Times Change and People Change
by keepsmilin
Summary: They used to be inseparable,up until middle school that is. They eventually drifted apart completely and started to hate each other. They would eventually have to deal with their problems,and just like times people change too. R&R Troyella Trailer inside!
1. Trailer

**Trailer**

_**He was the most popular boy at East High, the golden boy, the captain of the basketball team, and a player.**_

_He walked into the house and everyone started cheering his name._

"_Congrats on winning the game, a cheerleader said as she gave him a kiss. "Meet me upstairs later?"_

"_Of course," he replied as he continued to make his way through the crowd. _

_**She was the sweetest girl at East High and was loved by most. She was smart, pretty and a great friend. **_

_She was walking down the hall when she saw someone on the ground trying to collect their books._

"_Here let me help you," she said as she got down and started to collect some books and handing them to the young girl. _

"_Thanks," she replied shyly. _

_**They used to be inseparable.**_

"_Tag, you're it!" a young girl yelled as she touched her best friends arm and starting running in the opposite direction. He ran after her and caught up within second._

"_Now you're it!" he exclaimed as he touched her back._

"_Not fair, you're too fast!"_

_**But everything changed.  
**_

"_Mom, I'm bored," she complained._

"_Honey, I'm busy right now. Why don't you go over and hang out with Troy."_

"_I told you mom, we're not friends and more," she replied with a hint of sadness in her voice. "And he's probably too busy flirting with some slut anyways," she mumbled._

_**And just like times people change as well.**_

"_Have nice trip Montez?" he asked as she connected with the floor. She stood up and glared at him._

"_Why do you have to be such an ass all the time?"_

"_For the same reason that you have to be a bitch all the time."_

_**  
They hated each other and couldn't stand to be in the same room.**_

_She felt the fifth paper ball hit her in the side of the head._

"_Would you stop it! You're so fucking immature."_

"_You know you love me," he said with a smirk playing on his lips. _

"_Ha, ha, yeah right. You know I hate you."_

"_Ouch, that really hurts," he replied sarcastically. _

_**They would eventually have to deal with their problems.**_

"_I'm not the one who even started this war or whatever you want to call it," she yelled._

"_Don't put the whole blame on me," he replied angrily._

"_What are you talking about? This whole thing is your fault!"_

_**Will they come to terms with how they really feel about each other?**_

_He was leaning into kiss her. Was this really what she wanted? Her heart was telling her one thing and her mind another. She closed her eyes as their lips met._

_**Or will it be ruined forever?**_

"_I never should've started to trust you again! You're the biggest jerk I've ever might. From now on don't talk to me, don't look at me, don't even think about me!"_

"_Gabi, please listen to me."_

"_No Troy, I'm done listening."_

**A/N: Hey guys, so there's the trailer. Let me know what you think and if you're interested in this story. **** I'm working on the first chapter so if you guys are interested I'll try and have it up soon. **


	2. No Exceptions

**Chapter 1: No Exceptions**

It was the first day of senior year and Gabriella Montez could not be more excited. She had woken up early, had her shower and gotten dress. She had decided to make a few changes this year. Instead of simply dressing in whatever she could find, she decided that she wanted to be more fashionable, and put in more of an effort. It was not that she cared what other thought about her, but she felt it was something she needed to do for herself. This morning she had decided to wear a pair of skinny jeans with black pump, a blue tank top and a black cardigan. The outfit showed off her curves nicely, without the clothes being too tight or revealing. To finish off her outfit she let her long dark brown curls hang loose, and applied some light, natural looking make-up. When she had finished getting ready Gabriella grabbed her back pack and her purse and made her way downstairs. She dropped her bags by the front door and walked into the kitchen.

"Morning mom," she said when she entered the kitchen.

"Morning sweetie," her mother replied. "Gabi, honey, you look beautiful," her mother said as Gabriella did a turn for her.

"Thanks mom," she replied with a smile.

"Are you excited for your first day?" her mom asked her.

"I'm super excited, well, mostly. There are some things, or rather some people I'd rather not see," she replied. Her mom rolled her eyes.

"Gabi, he's a nice boy, just try and get along with him."

"He's not nice mom, and I'm not promising anything. I should get going, I'll see you tonight," she replied as she grabbed an apple and started heading for the door.

"Bye honey." Gabriella walked out of the house and got into her car. She was about to back out of the driveway when her phone rang. She grabbed it out of her purse and flipped it open to see a text from her best friend.

_Hey. I need a ride. Can you pick me up? xo Tay_

Gabriella quickly texted her back, before backing out of the driveway and leaving for her first day of senior year.

_Sure thing, I'll be there in 5 minutes._

* * *

Troy Bolton woke up to the annoying sound of his alarm clock. He groaned and pulled the covers over his head. It was the first day of senior year and Troy was not one bit excited. Sure he loved school, just not the learning part. Personally he was a bigger fan of the fact that everyone loved him and of course basketball season. He decided he might as well make the best of it and rolled out of bed. He toke a quick shower and got dressed. He was wearing a pair of jeans, and a white shirt with a v-neck sweater over top. He put on his favourite pair of black converse, grabbed his bag and walked downstairs. He walked into the kitchen and saw he parents sitting at the table eating breakfast. He took a seat across from them.

"Morning mom, dad," he said as he started piling food onto his plate.

"Good morning Troy," his mother replied. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Uh-huh," he replied with his mouth full of food.

"You ready to start working with the team again?" his dad asked.

"Yeah, when do try-outs start?"

"Tomorrow after school," he replied as he got up from the table. "Not that you have anything to worry about captain. Do you need a ride to school?" Troy shook his head as he swallowed the last of his food.

"Nah, I'm going to drive myself today."

"Alright, I'll see you at school then," Jack said as he kissed his wife and left for the door.

"Troy don't forget to be home by five at the latest, Gabriella and Mrs. Montez are coming over for supper," his mom said as he placed his plate in the dish washer.

"Great, dinner with the bitch; that should be lots of fun," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, I said I have to get going. See you tonight," he said as he left the kitchen and made his way outside. Troy got in his car and started making his way towards school.

* * *

Gabriella pulled up to the school. She got out of the car and looked at the school. This would be the last first day of school she had at this school. It made Gabriella sad to think about it that way, but it also made her happy at the same time. She turned towards her best friend Taylor McKessie and said,

"You ready to do this?" she asked. Taylor nodded.

"Of course! This year is going to be great." Gabriella smiled, she hoped it would be.

"Come on, lets go find our lockers," Gabriella said as she walked around to the front of the car. Taylor joined her and they started walking towards the school.

Taylor and Gabriella had met in middle school and they had immediately become good friends. Taylor had been with Gabriella through all the ups and downs in her life. They could tell each other everything and Gabriella didn't know how she would have survived without Taylor by her side. They were best friends, always together and always there for each other no matter what. As they entered the school they knew that whatever happened this year and after graduation they would always be best friends.

They went to the office first thing and got their schedules and their locker assignments. After they were finished in the office they went to find their lockers. Luckily they had gotten two lockers beside each other; the only thing Gabriella was worried about was who had the locker on the other side of her. She did not care who had it, as long as it was not one person in particular. She turned her lock and pulled it open. She started put putting her books in when Taylor spoke.

"I'm so excited for this school year to start. It's going to be so fantastic. I can't believe we only have two classes together this semester though. That's going to suck," she said as she closed her locker and leaned up against it.

"I know, but hey two is better then none, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she replied. "I'll be right back; I've got to go to the washroom."

"Okay," Gabriella turned back to her locker. She pulled out some pictures from her bag and put them up in her locker. Gabriella was about to close her locker when she heard someone come up beside her. She slowly closed the door hoping, praying, that the person beside her was someone she liked. Once the door was closed she looked over and saw the one person she wished it wasn't standing at the locker next to her. Gabriella groaned.

"You've got to be kidding me." This wasn't happening to her. Of all the people in the school she got stuck beside him? Of all the people, why him!

"Is that really anyway to be greeting your locker neighbor?" asked Troy with a giant smirk on his face.

"You know what it is," she replied coldly. She started walking away. As she came up to the washroom she saw Taylor coming out.

"Tay, why is life so unfair?" Gabriella questioned.

"What happened?" she questioned, although she already figured it had something to do with Troy.

"Guess who has the locker right next to me," she asked rhetorically. "Yeah, you guessed it Troy fucking Bolton. Why Tay? Of all the people in this school, why would they put Troy beside me? God I hate him so much!" Gabriella sighed, trying to calm herself down.

"Come on Gabs, maybe he's changed." Gabriella scoffed,

"Yeah right, the day Troy Bolton changes is the day hell freezes over. Tay, would you totally hate me if I switched lockers?" She asked. Taylor shook her head.

"Not completely," she replied. Gabriella laughed.

"Lets get to class and see if Shar, Ryan and Kels are there." Taylor nodded and they made their way to homeroom. They walked in and saw their other friends already sitting there.

"Gabriella, Taylor!" Sharpay shrieked and ran up and gave them each a hugged. "I've missed you guys so much."

"Sharpay, we saw each other yesterday," Taylor pointed out.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that, but still. It's great to see you guys." Gabriella and Taylor just laughed before giving Ryan and Kelsi hugs as well. "Gabs, I love the outfit by the way. You look so pretty." They then took their seats next to their friends.

"So Gabs, how was your morning?" Ryan questioned turning around in his car to face her.

"Good up until, oh three minutes ago."

"Let me guess, Troy?" She nodded. "What he do this time?"

"Well, he didn't really do anything. It's just my locker is beside his and uh," she trailed off. Ryan and Gabriella continued to talk while Taylor and Sharpay talked.

"Have you told her yet?" Sharpay asked curiously.

"No, I wanted to but I just couldn't find the right time," Taylor replied. "What about you?" Sharpay shook her head.

"What if we tell her together, that might make it easier," Sharpay suggested.

"Yeah, alright, just not today she's already in a bad mood," Taylor mentioned.

"Okay, fine by me. Bad mood, why?"

"Troy's locker is beside her's."

"Oh." Taylor was about to answer when the bell rang. The class immediately shut up when Ms. Darbus cleared her throat.

"Good morning class, and welcome back. Today I am going to start with announcement. The fall musical will be holding auditions at the end of the month and sign up start next week," she continued to read off the announcement but Gabriella was not paying attention. She looked around the homeroom to see who all was there. For the most part she liked everyone until her eyes found the group of jocks sitting in the back corner. She glared when she saw those piercing blue eyes that belonged to Troy Bolton.

Troy was sitting in the back of homeroom with his friends. They were not paying attention to anything she was saying; they were too busy talking about basketball. Although Troy was paying attention he was looking around the class. When his eyes found the person he was hoping wasn't there. His eyes narrowed. He couldn't stand Gabriella. She thought she was so much better then him and everyone else. She was a bitch. It was bad enough having his locker beside her, but now they had homeroom together. He only hoped that was all they had together.

When the bell rang the class got up and left. Troy turned to Chad.

"What do you have next?" he asked as they started to leave the class.

"Um, tech. What about you?"

"Uh, chemistry; that should be loads of fun," he said sarcastically. Chad laughed.

"Yeah, have fun with that. I'll see you in English."

"Okay, man. See ya." Troy and Chad turned in opposite directions. Troy went his locker and grabbed his book.

When Troy got to the chemistry lab he saw that there was a seating plan on the board. He found his name on the board and took a seat. He looked over at the seating plan to see who he was sitting beside. His eyes narrowed when he saw the name of the person sitting next to him. As if on cue she came in and sat beside him. She looked over at Troy and glared at him.

"Are you trying to make my life a living hell?" she asked.

"I have better things to do then worry about your boring life," he replied, glaring back at her.

"Oh, boring life really? Well, at least my life revolves around more than just basketball."

"It's not my fault I actually have a life and don't spend all my time studying."

"Oh yeah, basketball and girls, what a great life Bolton, you'll go very far. And you don't know the last thing about my life, so why don't you just shut the fuck up."

"I'll be way more successful than you'll ever be that for sure."

"You know what the only way this seating arrangement is going to work is if you don't look at me or talk to me."

"Fine by me," he replied and turned his back to her and started talking to the cheerleader next to him.

"Alright class," Mr. Chang said as he entered the class. "Quiet down. Now before we start the lesson I would like to assign you your lab partners for the year. Jason and Shelly, Kayla and George, Tyler and Sydney," He continued listing off names and as he got closer and closer to the end Gabriella and Troy both started to get more nervous. "And finally the last pair Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez."

"What?!?" they both exclaimed.

"Mr. Chang, can we please switch partners," Gabriella begged.

"No can do, these are the pairs and they'll remain this way for the rest of the semester. No exceptions."

"Mr. Chang, sir, I can not be Gabriella's partner. There is no way in hell."

"I said no exceptions."

"Mr. Chang, I'm begging you, please switch partners. I'll go with anyone else just not Bolton."

"Miss Montez, I said no exceptions."

"Ugh!" they both groaned. Gabriella turned to Troy and glared.

"If I'm stuck being your partners you better realize that I'm not doing all the work for you."

"Yeah, whatever, then I guess were both failing."

"Oh no, I will make you work."

"Really and how do you expect to do that? I don't listen to anyone, especially not you."

"Have I ever told you how much I hate you?" Gabriella asked, as she continued to glare at Troy.

"Hey, the feelings are mutual. Now why don't you turn around, so I don't have to look at your ugly face." Before Gabriella realized what she was doing she felt her hand connect with Troy face.

"Don't ever talk to me again," she hissed. She turned around in her seat and turned her back towards Troy. The class quieted down again and they began their lesson. One thing was for sure, senior year was bound to be one interesting year.

**A/N: Alright, so here's the first chapter. I'm not too sure how I feel about it. Some parts are rough I know but I really just wanted to get it up. Anyways, let me know what you think.**


	3. A Living Hell

**Chapter 2: A Living Hell**

"Ugh, this is supposed to be the best year of my life and so far it's the worst."

"C'mon cheer up Gabs; you still have two more classes," Sharpay said.

"Shar, you don't get it, he'll probably be in those too. He's everywhere!" she exclaimed.

"Gabs, it'll be fine. Maybe thing will work out," said Taylor trying to cheer her up.

"No, it won't. You guys don't understand. I can't stand him. He's obnoxious, self-center, a player, an ass, ugh, I hate him so much." Kelsi was about to say something, but Gabriella cut her off. "It's not going to be fine. First of all, I couldn't switch lockers, second he's in my Chemistry and English class and to top it all off he's my fucking lab partner! He doesn't even give a damn about Chemistry and he doesn't care if he fails!" Her friends decided to drop it and started talking about their plans for the weekend.

* * *

"That's rough, dude," Chad said after Troy finished telling him about his morning.

"It's not rough it's horrible."

"C'mon it can't be that bad," Zeke began. "At least in English and homeroom you don't have to talk to her."

"But she's still in the same room; that alone is enough to bug me. I wouldn't care if she wouldn't talk, but she just thinks she's so smart and better than everyone else, especially me. Ugh, and she thinks she's so hot when really she's not. She's the ugliest person I've ever seen."

"Well, one she _is_ really smart and two she is hot. I mean have you seen the way she looks in those new clothes?" Jason said. Troy's head snapped up and his eyes locked on Jason. If looks could kill Jason would've been dead within a second.

"Whose side are you on, asshole?" Troy hissed. Jason eyes went wide.

"Yours," he replied hesitantly.

"Then don't ever say anything like that ever again."

"Anyways, Troy are you hanging out with us tonight?" Chad asked trying to get them off the topic of Gabriella. Troy shook his head.

"I can't, the parents invited Ms. Montez and Gabriella 'the bitch' Montez over for supper and I have to there."

"Oh, well look I have to tell you something," Chad said as he looked over at Zeke.

"Uh, yeah me too," Zeke mentioned. They were about to continue when the bell rang.

"Can it wait because I've got to get to class?" They nodded.

"Sure," they said in unison.

***

The rest of the day had gone by slow for both Troy and Gabriella. They found out that they had all their classes together, and to top it all off they still had supper to look forward to. Before going to his locker Troy walked over to Chad and Zeke's locker.

"Hey Captain, how was the rest of your day?" asked Chad as he noticed Troy.

"Crappy as hell, how about yours?"

"Um, great actually," replied Chad as he shut his locker.

"Lucky you," Troy mumbled.

"So what's up?" Zeke asked.

"Oh, um I wanted to see what you guys wanted to tell me earlier," Troy replied looking up at his friends.

"Oh, uh, yeah. So, before we tell you, promise us you won't get mad," Zeke said looking Troy in the eyes.

"Unless it has something to do with Montez or her friends I'm fine."

"Um about that, Zeke and I have um, a double date on Friday with uh, Sharpay and Taylor," Chad said quickly. Troy laughed.

"It's funny because it just sounded like you said you have a double date on Friday with Taylor and Sharpay," Troy laughed.

"Actually Captain, that's exactly what Chad just said," Zeke said hesitantly. Troy immediately stopped laughing and his face froze.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" he exclaimed. "Why would you even speak to her friends? It's bad enough that my locker is beside hers, I have every single class with her, she's my lab partner and now you two are dating her best friends!?!"

"We aren't dating them, we're going on _a_ date with them, and you know what Captain this war is between you two, not between all of us. So if we want to go on a date with her friends, we will. Hell, if we want to go on a fucking date with her we will," replied Chad angrily. Troy glared at them.

"You know what, fuck you guys," Troy said before storming off towards his locker. When he got there he grabbed his things and slammed the door shut and left for his car. It was official, this had been the worst day of his life and it wasn't even over.

***

As five thirty rolled round Gabriella was making her way over to the Bolton's house along with her mom. She'd had a horrible day and the last thing she wanted to do was see Troy Bolton again. However, no matter how much she pleaded her mother forced her to come. Gabriella loved Mr. and Mrs. Bolton like they were her second parents; it was just their son she couldn't stand. As they stood at the door Gabriella put on a smile and hugged Mr. and Mrs. Bolton when they greeted them.

"Supper will be ready in a half hour," Mrs. Bolton mentioned as they followed her into the kitchen.

"That's great Lucille," Maria Montez replied.

"I'll just go get Troy, he's out back playing basketball," Jack said as he went to the back door. Before he could open the back door Gabriella stopped him.

"Jack, you don't have to. Really its fine, I'm fine sitting here with you guys."

"Nonsense Gabriella, he has to come get cleaned up anyways." Jack opened the door and stepped out onto the porch.

"Troy, as much as I love the fact that you're working on your game, it's time to come in the Montez's are here."

"Great," Troy mumbled. "I'll be there in a second." He took one last shot and the ball sunk in. _Easy as pie,_ he thought. Troy walked into the house and saw Gabriella sitting at the table talking to his parents.

"So Gabs, how was your first day of school?" he heard his dad ask.

"Okay," she replied shrugging. "It's could've been better."

"Really? What went wrong?" Lucille asked concerned.

"Oh, just little things, it's not important," she replied glancing over at Troy.

"Do you two have any classes together?" Lucille asked. "Troy hasn't really told us about his first day."

"Um, yeah. All of them actually."

"Really? That'll be great for you two, seeing each other all the time."

"Yeah, great," they both replied.

Troy's parents knew that he and Gabriella weren't friends anymore; however they had no idea that they hated each other. They unlike Gabriella's mom just thought that they had drifted apart. Mind you, Gabriella's mom didn't know the whole story, she only knew that they weren't friends and didn't get along. But, of course Troy had never told his parents the whole story. As far as they were concerned Troy and Gabriella had just met new friends and it caused them to drift apart and it stopped them from being friends.

"I'll be back, I'm going to shower," Troy said as he started to leave the room.

"Alright, but make it quick, supper's in twenty minutes." Troy simply nodded and walked upstairs. Lucille turned to Gabriella. "Gabs, if you want to watch TV, you're welcome to," she mentioned. Gabriella smiled.

"Thanks, but I think I'm just going to go sit outside for a bit."

"Alright, we'll call you when supper's ready," her mom said as she left the house through the back door. She walked down the steps of the porch and walked over to what used to be her favourite tree. She sat beneath it and looked up and saw the base of the tree fort that she had spent many days in. She and Troy used to sit up there for hours and talk. She sighed. _Why did middle school ever have to happen? Life would be so much easier if it never had,_ she thought. She remembered when they used to be inseparable and life was so simple.

_It was a warm summer's day, the sun was shining the birds were singing and nothing could get them down. They were nine years old and life was perfect. _

"_Tag, you're it!" a young girl yelled as she touched her best friends arm and starting running in the opposite direction. He ran after her and caught up within second._

"_Now you're it!" he exclaimed as he touched her back._

"_Not fair, you're too fast!" she said pouting. "I quit!"_

"_Gabi, you can't quit!" Troy complained. Before he realized what was happening he felt the girl touch his arm and run away. "That was so not fair!" She didn't respond and just kept running. The boy ran after her and tackled her to the ground. They both started to laugh._

"_So, are you still coming over tonight?" He asked as they laid on their backs looking at the clouds._

"_Of course I am Troy. I wouldn't miss our camp out in the tree fort for anything."_

"_Good, it's going to be lots of fun," he responded looking over at her and smiling. Gabriella looked over at him and smiled back._

"_Troy?" she asked._

"_Yeah Gabi," he replied as he looked into her big brown eyes._

"_Promise me that we'll always be best friends, no matter what happens," she said._

"_I pinky promise that we'll always be best friends," he said as they linked pinkies and smiled at each other._

A lot of good that promise had been worth. Look where it had gotten them now. The memory was interrupted when Gabriella heard a voice.

"Hey, Montez!" the voice called with a hint of anger. Gabriella looked up and saw Troy in front of her.

"What?" she asked coldly.

"Supper's ready," he replied and turned around and started making his way inside. She was about to get up when she noticed that he'd stopped and turned around. "Oh and by the way, tell your friends to stay the fuck away from my friends," he said angrily.

"What the hell are you even talking about?" she asked confused. "My friends would never socialize with the likes of your friends."

"Oh really, well maybe you should ask them what their plans are for Friday," he said angrily and turned around and walked into the house. Before getting up Gabriella grabbed her phone and texted Taylor.

_What are you doing Friday night? Let me know. xo Gabs_

She shut her phone and ran up to the house she entered the house and saw that everyone was already sitting at the table. She looked around and saw that the only available spot was beside Troy. She sat down and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, I was just finishing some stuff."

"It's alright," Lucille and Jack replied in unison.

"So Troy, are you excited for basketball season to start?" Maria asked. Troy nodded.

"Very excited, it should be lots of fun," he said. "Oh and hard work," he added after glancing at his dad. "I just hope we can take home the championships again."

"I'm sure we will son, with enough time, effort and motivation," Jack said with a smile.

"Jack, not now. We can talk plans some other times," Lucille said taping him lightly on the arm. "Are you excited to be graduating, Gabriella?"

"I am. I'm really looking forward to getting away from East High and planning my future. As much as I've loved East High it'll be nice to get away from certain…things," she replied while glancing over at Troy, who glared at her. Troy cleared his throat.

"Gabriella can I talk to you for a second?" he asked as he stood up from his chair.

"Um, sure," she replied slowly and got up and followed him out of the room. Troy led her around the corner and into the living room.

"Do you want to lay off the digs in front of my parents?" he ordered.

"Why Troy, are you afraid they'll find out what really happened?" she hissed.

"They know exactly what happened."

"Oh really, and what's that Troy, that we met new friends and drifted apart?" she questioned. When Troy didn't respond she continued. "If that's what they think than that's fucking bullshit and you and I both know it."

"Bullshit or not I'd prefer if we didn't argue in front of me parents. As much as I hate you and can't stand being in the same room as you they don't need to see that."

"Why Troy? Why can't they see it?" she asked starting to get furious.

"Just because…it's none of your business."

"None of my business?!? If anyone has the right to know why, it's me. They aren't the ones that got hurt, Bolton I was."

"Yeah, well no one gives fuck what you have to say," he said glaring at her. "Just lay off the digs in front my parents."

"Bolton, I'm done pretending. I'm not going to sit back and try and be civil with you in front of your parents just so they think you're perfect because reality check you aren't. Do you honestly think anyone really likes you for who you are? No, you're only popular because you're the captain of the basketball team," she said her voice rising.

"Just shut the fuck up. You know absolutely nothing about me."

"Oh, really, is that so? Because I sure as hell know enough about you to know that I hate you! Ever since middle school, fucking middle school Troy, you've made my life a living hell! Scratch that, a fucking nightmare! I can't wait for this year to be over so that I never have to see your fucking ugly face ever again!" she yelled, unable to control herself any longer. She stormed out of the room and into the kitchen she grabbed her purse and looked at her mom.

"I'll meet you at home," she said. "Lucille, thank you for dinner."

"Gabi, honey," her mom began but Gabriella had already run out the back door and was on her way home. Troy re-entered the kitchen and sat down.

"Troy, sweetie, what was that about?" Lucille asked concerned.

"It's not important," he replied pushing his plate away. "May I be excused, I'm not hungry anymore."

"Sure son," Jack replied as they watched their son walk out of the room.

Gabriella had just reached her house when her phone rang. She grabbed it out of her purse and flipped it open. 1 text message it read. She went to the inbox and saw a text from Taylor.

_Actually…me and Shar have a date with Chad and Zeke, sorry :( xo, Tay_

Gabriella was furious and after reading the text she felt as if she was going to explode with all the anger in her body. She quickly texted her back then ran upstairs and locked herself in her room.

_Thanks a lot..._

After leaving the kitchen Troy went up to his room and locked the door. This had been the worst day of his life. As if everything that had happened at school hadn't been enough, he was pretty sure his parents now had a pretty good idea about what was going on between him and Gabriella. Of course they still didn't know all the details, but he knew they heard her yelling. Troy hated her so much; he couldn't wait until he never had to see her again. He was so furious with her and that only meant one thing…the war was on.

**A/N: Alright, so here's chapter two. I know not too much is happening just yet but it only the first two chapters. I had a bit of a hard time writing this chapter, but I'm just trying to figure out how exactly I want to introduce everything. I promise it will get better so bare with me. I would really appreciate if you guys would review, so I know what you guys like and what you don't. Thanks for reading! R&R **


	4. An All New Low

**Chapter 3: ****An All New Low**

Troy woke up the next morning and couldn't be less excited for school. With everything that had happened yesterday he really hoped for a better day, although he highly doubted that it would actually happen. He was still extremely pissed with what happened with Gabriella. He wasn't too worried though, it just meant he'd have to go to extra lengths to annoy her. As much as Troy hated talking to Gabriella, he loved nothing more than to get under her skin.

He slowly rolled out of bed and had a shower. When he was done his shower he walked into his room in nothing more than a towel wrapped around his waist. He started digging around in his closet trying to find his favourite red and white shirt. He looked through his entire closet and then moved to his drawer. He finally found his shirt buried at the bottom of his drawer. He pulled it out and saw something sitting in the bottom of the dresser. He pulled out the paper and saw that it was a picture of himself and Gabriella on the first day of middle school. He starred at the picture for a couple minutes before throwing in the trash. He didn't even know why he still had the stupid picture anymore. He closed his drawer and finished getting ready for school.

After he was done getting ready he said good morning to his parents, grabbed a quick breakfast and was out the door. When he was backing out of his drive way he saw Gabriella walk out of her house and get into her car. Troy gripped the steering wheel with anger. He couldn't stand her and he had no idea why anyone was even friends with her. She was the biggest bitch in the history of the world. He didn't care how nice everyone thought she was. He pulled his eyes away from Gabriella and finished backing out and left for school.

***

The homeroom bell rang and Gabriella found herself in the familiar surroundings of Ms. Darbus' class. Although she was sitting with her friends, she wasn't talking to them.

"Come on Gabs, talk to us," Taylor pleaded, as Gabriella sat there and continued to ignore them.

"Gabs, this isn't fair. We're sorry if you're upset that we didn't tell you, it's just we were going to we just hadn't found the right time," Sharpay explained. Gabriella's head snapped up and she locked eyes with Sharpay.

"It's not the fact that you guys didn't tell me," she replied. "It's the fact that you would even consider going out with his friends, especially you Taylor. You guys know what he put me through, what he did to me, how could you do this to me?"

"Gabriella," Taylor said firmly. "Are you even listening to anything you're saying," Gabriella went to protest but Taylor continued. "Everything you're saying is 'he' not _they_, 'he'. You need to get over this because believe it or not we do like Chad and Zeke, so we're going out with them."

"Ugh," Gabriella groaned. "It's just, they were always with him and did they ever stop him no!"

"Gabs please come on. You really don't want to start a scene or you know Darbus will give us detention," mentioned Sharpay, as she put a hand on Gabriella's shoulder.

"I don't care if I get a detention!" she exclaimed. "I mean my life already sucks, one detention isn't going to change anything."

"Gabs, please. Keep your voice down," Taylor begged.

"No, guys! How could you do this to me!"

"For the last time," Taylor began. "This is between you two, not all of us. If you want to hate Troy go ahead, but this has nothing to do with us. We're friends with them and if we want to go on a date with them we will," she hissed. Gabriella sunk into her chair and pouted.

"Whatever," she said miserably. The girls looked at Gabriella then looked at each other.

"Look we're sorry Gabs, we know you've been having a rough time. We should've been more sensitive," Taylor said softly. Gabriella looked up at her friends.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted that way. You guys are right; this is between me and Troy, so you guys are free to do whatever. If you want to hang out with them you have every right to."

"Aw Gabs, we love you," Sharpay said with a smile. "This won't change anything, I promise. Besides it's just one date." Gabriella nodded and smiled at her friends. "So was the supper completely horrible last night?"

"Oh, you have no idea," she replied.

Meanwhile, Troy had been having a similar conversation with his friends.

"I still can't believe you're going out with the bitch's friends," he sighed.

"Troy get over it, it's happening and they're nice girls. They all are. I don't know why you even hate her, you guys used to be inseparable," Chad thought out loud. Troy didn't respond and simply glared at him. "Anyways, how was the dinner?"

"Uh, the worst fucking dinner of my life," he replied.

"Really, why? What happened?"

"Well, to start," Troy went on and told his friends the entire nights' events. When he was done his friends just stared at him.

"Wait, why didn't you want her to make digs at you in front of her family?" Zeke asked confused.

"Because," Chad began replying. "Troy's parents don't exactly know why he and Gabriella aren't friends anymore."

"Why not? I thought you guys just drifted apart and your personalities started to clash."

"Nah, there's more to the story. And no I don't want to talk about it. It's ancient history. All that matter's now is that we aren't friends," he replied firmly. "Anyways, you guys excited for practice tonight?" The boys nodded.

"We've got to get the newbies knocked into shape if we want to win the championship game."

"No problem there," the boys agreed. Chad stood up.

"What team?" he yelled.

"Wildcats!" the team replied.

"What team?"

"Wildcats!" the class replied.

"Wildcats?"

"Get your head in the game!" the teamed yelled.

"Thank you Mr. Danforth. Now please take your seat," Ms. Darbus said as she walked in the room. Ms. Darbus went on reading the announcement until the bell rang.

"Remember class, auditions for the fall musical are approaching fast so sign up as soon as possible." The class groaned and walked out of class.

Troy stood off to the side of the class and waited for Gabriella. When he saw her come out he stuck his foot out causing her to trip.

"Have nice trip Montez?" he asked as she connected with the floor. Her books went all over the place. Chad bent down to help her pick up her books, but she slapped his hand away.

"I got it," she snapped. She stood up and glared at Troy.

"Why do you have to be such an ass all the time?"

"For the same reason that you have to be a bitch all the time."

"What the hell are you talking about? I was walking down the hall minding my own business."

"Well, maybe next time you'll choose another hallway so I don't have to look at you."

"I'll walk down whatever fucking hallway I choose to walk down thank you very much. Just because you have everyone else wrapped around your finger doesn't mean you have me."

"Trust me, if I wanted to have you, which I don't, I could easily have you wrapped around my finger," he pointed out.

"In your dreams Bolton," she snapped.

"Nah, I've got way better things to dream about. Now why don't you keep walking and get your fat ass out of my face."

"You're such an asshole!" she snapped before storming off. Chad turned to Troy.

"Seriously, what is your problem man? She didn't fucking do anything," he said in her defense.

"I was getting her back for last night," he replied coldly.

"Why, just because she was done pretending? Troy you're my best friend, but sometimes I just don't get you. It's no wonder she fucking hates you."

"What's wrong with you? You never minded the arguing before."

"Nothing's wrong with me and the arguing I don't mind, but that's called bullying. And it's called maturity, maybe you should discover it and grow up," Chad said and then walked off before Troy could say anything back. Chad walked down the hall until he found Gabriella and Taylor standing at their lockers.

"Hey Gabriella, um, I just wanted to apologize to you for Troy. That really wasn't fair," he said sincerely.

"Uh, thanks," she answered slightly confused.

"Look, I know we never really friends, and I did go along with Troy, but you've got to believe me when I say I've grown up and matured. I really don't think it's fair what he's doing to you. So I want to call a truce with you on my behalf," Chad offered. Gabriella looked up at him and searched his eyes for something, anything, until she realized he was telling the truth. "No one should have to deal with that, especially during senior year. It's supposed to be the best year of our lives," he explained. "Friends?" he asked, extending his hand. Gabriella smiled and shook his hand.

"Friends," she replied. Chad pulled her into a hug.

"I really am sorry," he whispered.

"You're forgiven."

While Gabriella and Chad had been having their conversation Troy had been standing at the other end of the hall watching and he was not pleased.

***

First period had started and Troy and Gabriella were stuck sitting beside each other in Chemistry class. Gabriella had been doing her best to ignore Troy; however it was getting a little difficult.

"Trying to steal my friends now too? That's sad; you can't make your own so you have to steal mine? You know Chad doesn't really like you, just this morning he told me he that you were a stuck up bitch," said Troy as he poked Gabriella.

"Why would I believe anything you say anyways? All that matters is Chad was man enough to apologize. Now would you shut up? I'm trying to pay attention," Gabriella snapped.

"Aw, is the nerd trying to listen?" he said in a baby voice.

"If you don't shut the fuck up I'll," she began but Troy cut her off.

"You'll what? Run to daddy and tell him?" he said with a smirk. "Oh wait that's right you can't." Gabriella felt tears sting her eyes but she refused to let them fall in front of Troy. Troy saw the hurt in her eyes and he knew he'd won. Gabriella brought her hand up and slapped him across the face.

"Don't you dare talk about my dad like that," she warned. "You have no idea what the fuck happened. You know why, because you were in your own little world and didn't care about anything unless it revolved around you. So you can just shut up." Gabriella raised her hand. "May I go to the washroom?"

"Of course," Mr. Chang replied and went back to teaching the lesson. Gabriella walk out of the classroom quickly and ran to the bathroom. As soon as she was behind the door, she slid down the wall until she was sitting and started to cry. She hated the way Troy could get to her; he knew her dad was a sore spot. Although he didn't know the story, or at least the whole story he still knew it got to her. Gabriella buried her head and her knees and continued to cry.

Meanwhile Troy sat in class trying to get the feelings of guilt to leave his head. _Why do you even care? This is what you wanted; you wanted her to get mad?_ He thought. _So, why do I feel so bad? Why do I even feel guilty, I hate her. _Unable to overcome his feelings of guilt he raised his hand and asked to go to the washroom. He left the class he walked towards the washroom when he heard someone crying. He continued walking and as he got closer to the washroom he heard that the crying was coming from the girl's washroom. Troy had a good idea of who it was and he continued to feel bad about what he'd said. Before he thought about what he was doing he knocked on the door.

"Are you okay?" he called and then mentally kicked himself in the head. What was he doing, it was Gabriella Montez. He hated her more than anyone in the world. There was no way in hell he felt bad for her. He turned away and started walking towards the boy's washroom when he heard the door.

"What the fuck are you doing here when you don't even care? And don't even try and pretend like you do because I know for a fact that you don't," Gabriella snapped.

"You know what I don't even know, it was a reflex I don't even know why I did it."

"Wow, and you don't even apologize. Bolton you have officially hit an all new low and I swear to God if you ever bring up my dad again I'll kill you."

"Whatever," he replied coldly and walked into the boy's washroom. He didn't know why he even tried. Why did he even think of trying in the first place? _It was Chad's fault_, he thought._ If he hadn't blown up at me this morning I wouldn't be second guessing myself._ Troy sat in the bathroom for a good five minutes before returning to class. When he got back he saw Gabriella sitting in her seat. He looked over at her surveyed her face, she still looked upset. _Why are you doing Bolton? You hate her!_ Troy shook his head and walked back to his desk and sat down. He saw Gabriella glance over at him and muttered,

"Jackass." Troy glared at her.

"Bitch," he muttered in response. Just then the bell rang.

"Alright class, read pages ten to twenty for tomorrow and answer questions one to ten on page twenty. You're dismissed." Gabriella got up from her chair and was out of the class within seconds. When Gabriella got to there lockers she saw Taylor was already standing there.

"Hey," Taylor said cheerfully as Gabriella came up to her locker.

"Hey," she responded emotionless, as she opened her locker. She pulled it open just as Troy came up to his locker. Gabriella immediately turned her back to him.

"Are you okay?" Taylor asked, concerned. "You look like you've been crying." Gabriella sighed.

"I'll talk to you about it later," she said as she grabbed her English books and shut her locker. "When certain people aren't around," she mumbled.

"Alright," Taylor replied. "Oh, and before I forget, don't make any plans for Saturday night, Chad is having a party and he invited us. I know it's usually not your scene, but you have to come," Taylor mentioned, with a hint a begging in her voice.

"Alright, I'll go," she replied sighing.

"You've got to be kidding me," she heard Troy mumble as he slammed his locker and stormed off towards English. Gabriella rolled her eyes but continued.

"But if anything happens, I'm leaving, alright?" Taylor squealed.

"Of course Gabs! I'm just glad that you're coming!" she said giving her friend a hug. "Now come on we've got to get to English class." As they walked off Gabriella couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe going to this party would actually be fun.

**A/N: Alright, so here's chapter three. ****I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I'm not too sure about some parts. Please review and let me know what you think, it's really helpful. I'll try and have Chapter 4 up soon. Thanks so much for reading and don't forget to review!**


	5. How Could He Do That To Me?

**Chapter 4: How Could He Do That To Me?**

The rest of the week had gone by very slowly for Troy and Gabriella. It had consisted of the same thing over and over again; arguing, fighting, more arguing and more fighting. They both couldn't be more relieved that it was Saturday and that they didn't have to see each other for the whole weekend, or so they thought.

Gabriella woke up Saturday morning and had decided to spend the morning in bed reading. She loved nothing more than to spend some time alone and indulge in the fantasy world of her books. She was a huge fan of romantic novels, not soap opera romance, but the true genuine love stories. She would always imagine that she was the girl in the story who was finally falling in love. However, it still hadn't happened in real life. So far the closest she'd come was a couple years back when she had her first boyfriend. She liked him at the time and it was fun but she just knew that he wasn't the one. She was just about to get up and get moving when her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Taylor.

"Hello?" she asked as she picked up the phone.

"Oh good you're up," Taylor said excitedly.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I was thinking maybe I could come over to your place and we could get ready for the party together," Taylor suggested, her voice filled with excitement.

"Oh yeah, the party, I almost forgot. But you should definitely come over, it'll be fun. Beside I'll probably need some help picking out an outfit."

"Okay, I'll be there in twenty," she replied. "Bye Gabs."

"Bye Tay." Gabriella hung up the phone and put it on her bedside table. She looked at the clock and saw that it was already noon. She crawled out of bed and went into the washroom and took a shower. When she got out she threw on a t-shirt and some sweats and went downstairs to get some food.

* * *

Troy had woken up on Saturday morning in the best of moods. He got up changed into his work out clothes and went out to play some basketball. They had their first game schedule for next week and it was a home game so Troy felt he should be as ready as possible. He was practicing his lay-ups when his cell rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey man, it's Chad."

"Hey, what's up?"

"I was wondering if you could help me get ready for the party tonight?"

"Yeah, sure thing what time do you need me there for?"

"As soon as possible, I guess. The party starts at six, so definitely sometime before six."

"Ha, ha, thanks I got that much," Troy replied as he rolled his eyes. "Well I'm just going to finish practicing and then I'll get ready and I'll be over at two at the latest."

"Sounds, good. Thanks so much," Chad said before hanging up the phone. Troy tossed his phone over on the grass and continued to practice.

Troy and Chad weren't fighting anymore, and Troy was glad. As much as he hated the fact that Chad was now hanging out with Gabriella, he hated being in a fight with his best friend. Troy had told Chad that even though he didn't agree with the fact that he was friends with her, he didn't want it to affect their friendship, so he went along with it. Troy under no circumstances planned on befriending her. He had been looking forward to a Gabriella free weekend when he remembered that Chad had invited her to the party. _Oh well,_ he thought. _There will be tons of people it's not like I'm going to see her anyways. _Troy sighed he did one more lay-up before grabbing the ball and his phone and heading inside. As he walked into the kitchen he was greeted by his parents.

"How did the practicing go, son?" he dad asked curiously.

"Great," he replied simply. "Um, I've got to go get ready, I told Chad I'd come over early and help him set up for the party," Troy mentioned as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Okay, but make sure you're home by midnight tonight," his mom replied.

"Mom, I told you I'm spending the night. I told Chad I'd stay over and help him clean up."

"What about your homework though?" Mrs. Bolton asked concerned.

"I promise I'll get it done tomorrow," he explained. "Look, I promised Chad I'd help, I can't bail on him."

"Alright, but make sure you're home by one at the latest tomorrow," she compromised.

"I promise," he agreed as he kissed his mom on the cheek. "I've got to go get ready." Troy put his cup down and ran up to his room. He grabbed a quick shower, got dress and then left for Chad's house.

***

It was just past six thirty when Gabriella and Taylor pulled up to Chad's house. Gabriella got out of the car and starting pulling on her skirt.

"Gabriella, stop it. You look fine, no you look better than fine, you look sexy," Taylor told her sincerely.

"I'm just not comfortable."

"Well, honey, beauty is pain," Taylor replied before leading them into Chad's house.

Taylor had convinced Gabriella to wear clothes out of her comfort zone. She was wearing a denim miniskirt with a tastefully low cut purple tank top. It wasn't too low cut, but just low enough to show off a little cleavage without giving away too much. She had also convinced her to wear a pair of matching purple stilettos, and sport her hair half up. She had applied her usual amount of make-up and put on a few pieces of jewellery.

As they walked into the party all eyes were on Gabriella. A couple guys whistled while other simply checked her out. As they walked through the crowd Gabriella heard them say things such as 'looking good', and 'hey save me a dance sexy'. Gabriella couldn't help but blush. Although she had gotten attention from boys before she had never gotten this much attention and she kind of liked it. Taylor and Gabriella made their way over to the drinks table where they met up with Chad. When they reached the table Chad gave Taylor a hug and then looked at Gabriella.

"Wow, Gabs, you look hot," he said dumbfounded. Gabriella giggled.

"Thanks," she said blushing. "I couldn't have done it without Taylor though."

"It was nothing," Taylor replied with a smile. "So," she said turning towards Chad. "Are we going to stand here all night, or are you going to ask me to dance?" Chad laughed.

"Well, as fun as standing here all night sounds, how about we dance," he said smoothly. They waved to Gabriella as they made their way towards the dance floor. Gabriella turned towards the drink table and started pouring herself a drink.

Meanwhile, Troy had been looking around the room trying to find a girl to hook up with when he finally found one standing by the drink table. She had her back to Troy but he couldn't help but think about what a sexy back it was. She was wearing a denim miniskirt and a purple tank top. Troy smiled and walked up behind her placing his hands on her hips.

"Hey sexy, come dance with me," he said pulling her towards the dance floor, when he felt her body stiffen. "Come on, relax, you're about to dance with the sexiest guy in school, Troy Bolton, captain of the basketball team." He felt the body stiffen more.

"Actually," the girl began in a familiar voice. Where had he heard that voice before? "I'm about to dance with the biggest, most conceited asshole of the school," she said turning around. Troy eyes grew wide. "And get your fucking hands off of me," she said glaring at him.

"G-Gabriella?" he stammered. "You, you look," he paused looking for the write word.

"Sexy?" she guessed.

"Actually I was going to say, ugly as hell," he replied trying to cover up his mistake.

"Oh really, because like two seconds ago you called me sexy and you pretty much wanted to get in my pants."

"In your dream, Montez," he snapped.

"Actually no, why would I dream about you. You're the biggest fucking player I've ever met in my life Troy. Why would I want, or even consider wanting some like you?"

"Because, just like everyone else, you can't resist me," he said with smirk.

"Oh really, is that so?"

"Yeah, come on, I know you asked Mr. Chang to make us lab partners."

"As if! Why the hell would I want some lazy son of a bitch like you as my lab partner?" She asked her voice rising in anger. "You don't give a fuck about your grades, so why would I want to be your fucking lab partner? Now why don't you walk away and go find some slut that you can fuck!" she said as she stormed off towards Taylor. Troy rolled his eyes, he was about to walk away when Cindy, one of the cheerleaders came up to him.

"Hey Troy," she said winking.

"Hey Cindy," he said with a flirtatious smile. Before he could say anything else Cindy started to make-out him. Troy didn't object and deepened the kissed.

Gabriella on the other hand had made her way towards Taylor.

"I'm leaving," she yelled over the music.

"What, Gabs, you can't leave we just got here," she said sadly. "What happened?"

"What always happens Taylor? Troy happened. Look, this was supposed to be a Troy free weekend, and" she didn't get a chance to finish because Chad interrupted.

"Gabs, you have to say. I order you to stay," he said laughing. "Beside I don't think Troy will be bugging you anymore," he mentioned as he pointed towards there stair where she saw a cheerleader leading Troy upstairs. Gabriella sighed.

"So, does that mean you're staying?" Taylor asked hopefully.

"I guess so," she replied.

"Great then come on and dance with us," she said smiling as she grabbed Gabriella's hand and started to dance again. Gabriella followed suit and started to dance next thing she knew she was having an awesome time.

As the night went on Gabriella found herself having more and more fun. She had never expected to be having to much fun. When a slow song came on she excused herself and said she was going to get a drink. As she was walking over to the drink table she felt someone grab her arm. The person spun her around and she found herself face to face with a guy.

"Hey, want to dance?" he asked her. Gabriella blushed and looked down at the floor shyly.

"Sure," she replied and he led her towards the dance floor. When they were back in the crowd of people the boy put his arms, on her hips and she put his around his neck.

"I'm Matt by the way," he said as they started to dance.

"Gabriella," she replied simply, making eye contact for the first time. She had to admit he was super cute.

"I know who you are," he mentioned with a smile. "I'm in your Chemistry class."

"You are?" she replied confused.

"Yeah."

"How come I've never seen you before?"

"Well, I sit behind you and you're always busy arguing with Troy," he explained.

"Oh, well, it's nice to meet you," she said with a smile.

"You too. Oh, and by the way you look gorgeous tonight," he told her. "Well, not that you don't always look gorgeous, but tonight you look especially nice," he added quickly.

"Thanks," she said blushing.

"Actually, if I'm being completely honest I've always thought you were cute." Gabriella felt her cheeks grow hot.

"Thanks," she said shyly. "You're pretty cute too." Gabriella and Matt were too caught up in there conversation that they hadn't even noticed that the slow song changed to a fast song.

Meanwhile Troy was just a couple feet away dancing with a group of girls. He looked over and saw Gabriella dancing with Matt and glared. He stopped dancing and stared at the couple. He saw her laugh at something he said. What was so funny? Matt wasn't even funny. Troy was brought back to reality when one of the cheerleaders he was dancing with started to grind her.

As he started moving with her, he couldn't help but look at Gabriella and Matt who were still dancing slowly. Didn't they know it was fast song? Troy shook his head. What was wrong with him? Why did he even care? He tried to distract himself by focusing more on the grinding. He started to kiss the cheerleaders neck and she moaned. She turned around and captured his lips in a passionate kiss. He started backing up without breaking apart. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him as he started walking towards the stairs.

Gabriella and Matt were still talking when Gabriella realized the slow song wasn't on anymore. She laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just I hadn't realized that the slow song had ended."

"Oh, yeah, I guess it did," he laughed.

"Well, it was great talking to you. Maybe we could hang out again sometime?" she questioned. He smiled.

"Definitely, I'd love that."

"Great, I'll see you later," she said with a smile, as she waved and walked towards the drink table. As she grabbed a drink she looked around and saw Troy heading up stairs with another girl. Gabriella rolled her eyes. _What a player_, she thought. As Gabriella watched Troy she couldn't help by sigh. She started to think about the old days, back when he wasn't a player, back when he only had two girls in his life; his mom and Gabriella. Gabriella smiled, remembering all the times, he'd chose to spend the day with her rather than other girls. She remembered how when they would play girls chase guys, all the girls would chase Troy; however when it was the guys' turn to chase the girls, Troy would only chase her. Gabriella frowned as she thought of how much he'd changed. Now he would choose any girl over Gabriella. It did hurt Gabriella, it still did. As much as she hated Troy, she still got upset thinking about how they'd grown apart. Gabriella had always had the biggest crush on him when they were growing up and he didn't even care, in fact he threw away their entire friendship.

Gabriella sighed. Thinking about the past was making her upset. She was about to drink her punch when she noticed the vodka sitting next to it. Gabriella grabbed the container and unscrewed the top. She poured a bunch of the vodka into her punch and then chugged the drink. She poured herself another glass.

Gabriella had never been drunk in her life; it was never something she was fond of; however on this particular night she didn't care. She had heard people say that being drunk made you forget about all your worries, and that was definitely something she felt she needed right now. She continued drinking until she couldn't stand up straight. So many thought were going through her head. None of them good thought they weren't making her happy, they were making her depressed. Gabriella staggered over to the corner where she collapsed and started to cry. Her head filled with thoughts, of he dad, his death, Troy and everything he'd done to her. She was balling and no one seemed to care. That is until she heard someone's voice.

"Um, are you okay?" she voice asked. She recognized that voice. Of course she did that was Troy's voice. She looked up and glared at him.

"Get the fuck away from me right now. I'm sick and tired of you," she slurred between sobs.

"Look, I'm just trying to help," he replied backing away. "Are you drunk?"

"No, I'm not drunk!" she yelled. "And I don't need your fucking help. I don't need anything from you. You're a fucking piece of shit and I don't care about you!" she yelled. "This is your fault. It's all your fault, how could you do this to me Troy?" she cried, tears streaming down her face. "And didn't I tell you to stay the fuck away from me?" By now everyone was paying attention to the scene that was unfolding before their eyes. Chad and Taylor pushed through the crowd and ran over to their friends. Taylor got down beside Gabriella and tried to calm her down. Chad turned and glared at Troy.

"What the fuck did you do man?" he asked angrily. Troy threw his hands up in defence.

"I didn't do anything I swear. I was just coming down the stairs when I saw her crying in the corner. I went over to ask her if she was okay and she just started yelling at me," he explained. Chad continued to glare at him. "Dude, I swear I'm telling the truth. I did nothing." He could see Chad searching his eyes to see if he was lying when finally he said,

"Okay I believe you." They both turned back to Gabriella to see that Taylor had her in a hug.

"How could he do that to me Tay? I don't understand how he could do that to me. We were best friends," Gabriella said between sobs. Troy sighed, he looked at Gabriella's eyes and for the first time he'd seen the pain he'd actually caused her. He looked at her one more time before turning around.

"Dude, where are you going?" Chad asked.

"I just need some air." Troy walked outside and around the side of the house taking a seat of the bench Chad's mom had near the garden. He sighed. How could he have not realized how much he'd hurt Gabriella. Tonight was the first time he'd seen all the hurt in her eyes. What was he to do there was no way he could fix everything. _I guess I could try and be nice to her_, he thought. _What am I talking about? She hates me and I hate her. Nothing's going to change that, right? It'd be pointless anyways if I try to be nice to her she'll just yell at me. Yeah, exactly so why would I put in the effort. Right, I won't because we hate each other. _Just then Troy heard people come out the door. He heard to voice and then the silent sobs of someone crying.

"Thanks for helping, I parked just over there," he heard the voice say, who he guessed was Taylor.

"No problem," he said as they made their way down the path. "Does this happen a lot?"

"No, I don't know what happened. She's never been drunk in her life," Taylor explained. Just then Troy heard Gabriella speak.

"He hurt me so bad Tay, why did he do that to me? Why? And my dad, how could anyone ever do that? Why is my life to messed up? Why couldn't I have a normal life; a picture perfect world, just like the ones in all my books?" She stopped talking and Troy heard her throw up. "Uh, I don't feel so good," he heard her groan. They had reached the car and they put Gabriella in.

"Thanks again Chad, I really appreciate it."

"No problem Tay," he replied. "Well, I guess I'll see you Monday. Call me tomorrow and let me know how she is?" he questioned.

"Definitely," she replied and gave him a hug. "I better go before she throws up all over her car.

"Bye," Chad said. Taylor got in the driver's seat of Gabriella's car and left Chad house. She grabbed her cell phone and dialled Gabriella's home number. After two rings her mom answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mrs. Montez, its Taylor."

"Oh hello dear, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, um, I just wanted to see if it was alright if Gabs spent the night at my house. She was going to call and ask but she kind of fell asleep," Taylor lied.

"Of course," she replied. "Thank you for calling."

"You're welcome. Bye," Taylor said and hung up the phone. She heard Gabriella groan.

"Ugh, Tay, I really don't feel well," she said.

"Well, that's what happens when you get drunk. Just lay your head against the window and try to sleep." Taylor drove them to her house and when she got there she helped Gabriella out of the car and she led her up to her room. Taylor placed Gabriella on her bed and placed a garbage can beside her. Little did Gabriella know she would be feeling way worse in the morning.

**A/N: So, here is chapter 4, I hope you guys like it. It's actually pretty long. It's the longest one I've written so far. I would like to thank those who have been reviewing, I appreciate it. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! **


	6. A Fine Line Between Love and Hate

**Chapter 5: A Fine Line Between Love and Hate **

Gabriella woke up the next morning to her head pounding. She slowly opened her eyes, to find out that the room was very bright and it hurt her head even more. She groaned. What had happened to her? She tried opening her eyes again with zero success. Finally she had managed to open them enough to realize that she was in Taylor's room. Why wasn't she at her own house? Gabriella shut her eyes again and groaned. There was no possible way she was going to get up. Anytime she moved her head in the slightest it started to throb. As if on cue, she heard someone walk in, who she assumed was Taylor.

"Gabs?" she asked as she made her way towards the bed.

"Yeah," Gabriella groaned, in return.

"I brought you some water and an aspirin," she explained as she came and sat down beside Gabriella on the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Horrible," she answered as she grabbed the cup and aspirin. She swallowed the medicine before continuing. "It feels like someone is stabbing me repeatedly in the head." Taylor laughed quietly.

"It's called a hangover, it's what you get after being drunk," she explained.

"What? I was drunk? What happened?" Gabriella asked surprised.

"Yeah, you were. Piss drunk actually and I don't know why, I was hoping you could tell me. All I know is Chad and I were dancing and next thing we know is you and Troy were fighting and then we ran over and saw you crying in the corner, drunk."

"I-I was crying?" she questioned confused once again.

"Yeah, you were. You kept saying thing like 'how could he do that to me, he was my best friend' and 'how could anyone do that to my dad'," Taylor explained. Gabriella's mouth fell open.

"I was saying what? Please tell me Troy didn't hear any of it," she begged. "Please Tay, please tell me he didn't. I can't have him knowing how badly he hurt me, I need to be strong," she said a tear rolling down her cheek. Taylor sighed.

"I wish I could tell you he didn't hear any of it but he did," she replied hesitantly.

"Ugh! You've got to be kidding me. I can't believe I got drunk, especially when he was around. How much did he hear?"

"Only the part about you asking how he could do that to you," she told her honestly. "He didn't hear any of the stuff about how you used to like him."

"What?!? I said that out loud. Why would I be so stupid? What exactly was I saying?"

"You were saying 'I don't know how he could do that to me, we were best friends, I used to love him, he was so important to me, Tay and then he just threw everything away'." Gabriella hit her forehead and immediately regretted it. "Gabs calm down and tell me what happened. Why did you start drinking?" Gabriella sighed.

"I don't remember," she replied searching her mind for some memory. "I remember I had been dancing with Matt, this guy I met, and then the slow song ended and I went over to get a drink. I remember pouring myself a punch and then looking around the room," she explained.

"And?" Taylor pressed.

"And, I remember seeing Troy going upstairs with another girl."

"How did that make you feel?"

"What are you my physiatrist?" she laughed. "I don't know, I just remember thinking that he was a player. Then I started to remember to old days, back when his mom and I were the only girls in his life. I started thinking about how everything used to be perfect and then everything changed. I remember wanting to get rid of the pain. I was tired of feeling bad for myself and I was tired of all the pain he's caused me. Then I saw the bottle of vodka and I poured some in my punch because I wanted to forget everything and have a good time, and that's the last thing I remember," she concluded. Gabriella looked at Taylor who seemed to be thinking. "What?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know it's just it seems like you're not over Troy and that there's still feelings there. I mean Gabi; he caused you to drink just because you saw him leading some slut upstairs. Maybe you were jealous." As she finished answering the question she saw the fire shoot through Gabriella's eyes.

"I don't still have feelings for him, I haven't in years. Taylor you of all people should know that. It's the pain he's caused me, that caused me to drink. I could never like that cocky, self-centered, son of a bitch," she snapped. "I hate him!"

"Whatever you say," Taylor said rolling her eyes. "But as they say, there's a fine line between love and hate."

"Oh really? And you are they exactly?" Gabriella sighed. "What time is it?"

"It's twelve thirty." Gabriella slowly started lifting herself out of the bed.

"I should probably start heading home," she mentioned as she stood up, her head still pounding.

"Do you wanted to have a shower before you go it might help you feel better?"

"No thanks, I think I'm going to have a bath when I get home. Thanks for taking care of me and letting me stay here last night I really appreciate it," she thanked Taylor as she gave her a hug.

"Your welcome and you know you're welcome anytime," she replied. "So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, for sure. Bye Tay," Gabriella said as she walked out of Taylor rooms and down the stairs to the door. She picked up her purse and made her way to her car. Luckily her car ride was only five minutes because Gabriella's head was killing her and she didn't know if she could concentrate much longer.

When Gabriella got home she saw that her mom's car was gone. She walked into the house and found a note on the kitchen table.

_Gabi,_

_I got called into work. I'll be home by six o'clock, there's left over's in the fridge if you're hungry. Love you,_

_xoxo, Mom_

Gabriella put the note back on the counter before grabbing a cup of coffee and heading up to her room. She entered the bathroom and started a bath. She put in some bubble bath before undressing and getting into the tub. She sunk down and sighed. Taylor had some nerve to say Gabriella still had feelings for Troy. Of course she didn't have feelings for Troy, or did she? No of course she didn't, she couldn't, she hated Troy.

***

The next morning Gabriella arrived at school and went straight to her locker. She had been dreading today since she found out what happened at the party. She didn't care that she'd gotten drunk, all she cared about was the fact that Troy now knew how hurt she really was. She tried years to protect herself from him, showing that she was strong and now she threw it all down the drain. When Gabriella reached her locker she started to open her lock, when she felt someone come up behind her and cover her eyes.

"Guess who?" the person said.

"Um, Chad?" she guessed.

"No guess again."

"Um, I don't know," she said as the person removed their hands and spun her around. Gabriella smiled when she saw that it was Matt. "Hey," she said giving him a hug.

"Hey," he replied with a smile. "What happened to you at the party? I went looking for you later but you were gone."

"Oh, I-uh, I wasn't feeling well so Taylor took me home," she lied. It couldn't really be considered a lie; truth was she hadn't been feeling well.

"And you didn't even say goodbye?" he joked. Gabriella laughed.

"Sorry, next time I'll remember to say bye."

"Who says there will be a next time?" he teased.

"Well, you wouldn't be talking to me if you didn't plan for there to be a next time, now would you?"

"Uh, you caught me," he laughed. "I was actually wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me today." Gabriella smiled at him.

"I'd love too," she giggled.

"Great." They continued to talk as more and more people filled the halls. When Taylor got there Gabriella introduced her to Matt and the three of them continued talking. Chad came up to see Taylor and Gabriella introduced them as well, but it turned out they already knew each other. Matt was one of the newest members on the basketball team.

As the four of them continued to talk Troy came up to his locker. He looked over at the group and saw Gabriella standing beside Matt. _Should I ask her how she's feeling?_ He thought, then he shook his head. _Nah, she'll probably bitch me out anyways. _He opened his lock when he heard Chad call him.

"Hey Captain," he said over the group. Gabriella turned her head towards Troy and quickly turned towards Matt.

"Um, I've got to go to class, so I'll see you later?" she stated. Matt shook his head.

"No, you'll see me now because I'm going to walk you to homeroom," he smiled. Gabriella and Matt said bye to Taylor and Chad and then left for homeroom. Troy who had heard the entire conversation rolled his eyes. Chad and Taylor walked up to Troy.

"So, captain you ready for the big game this weekend?" Chad asked excitedly. Troy nodded.

"Definitely, we're going to kick some knight ass!" he exclaimed, then noticed Taylor standing with Chad. "What are you doing here?" he asked her curiously.

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"I mean, why are you still here? I thought you hated me, just like the bitch."

"One, I'm here with Chad. Two I don't hate you, I hate what you did to Gabriella and three she's not a bitch," she explained a hint of anger in her voice.

"Oh," he answered. "How is she anyways?" Taylor looked at him surprised.

"Why don't you ask her," Taylor replied simply.

"I would but she'd probably just bitch at me."

"I'd tell you but it's really not my place. I've got to go. I'll see you in class Chad," she said before walking away. Chad looked at Troy with curiosity.

"What?" Troy asked both confused and defensively.

"You like her, don't you?"

"Who Taylor?"

"Not Taylor you dumb ass, Gabriella."

"What? No, of course I don't like Gabriella," he replied defensively.

"Really? Because you seemed pretty concerned about her two seconds ago."

"I wasn't concerned I was just…curious."

"Yeah, curious…you so like her," Chad teased. Troy glared at him.

"I don't like here, alright? As a matter of fact I hate her," he said angrily. "I just felt bad."

"About?" Troy looked at Chad.

"About all the pain I've caused her," he replied hesitantly.

"Whatever, I still say you like her." Troy glared at Chad.

"I don't fucking like her, alright?" Troy said as he gripped Chad's shirt. Chad put his hands up defensively.

"Alright, I believe you," Chad said as Troy let go of his shirt. "We better get to home room." Troy nodded. He grabbed his books and they started making their way towards homeroom. Troy was thinking about all Chad had just said. Maybe he did like Gabriella, but then he mentally kicked himself. _No of course I don't, I can't we hate each other. I can't like her, right?_ As they entered the class Troy took his seat and sighed. He looked over at Gabriella; she was laughing and smiling with her friends.

"Gabs, that's so exciting," Sharpay shrieked.

"Yeah, you haven't been on a date in years this'll be great for you," Taylor said cheerfully.

"I know!" Gabriella exclaimed. "I'm so excited. Matt is such a nice guy." They continued talking about Gabriella's lunch date with Matt until Ms. Darbus entered the room. She began talking when Taylor remembered she had to tell Gabriella about her chat with Troy. She knew if she turned around to talk to Gabriella Ms. Darbus would give her a detention. So, instead she pulled out a sheet of paper, and wrote Gabriella a note and passed it back to her. Gabriella unfolded it and read it.

_Hey, I have something I need to tell you later. I don't know how you'll feel about it but I really think you should know. I'll tell you later though, in person and when we aren't in class._

_-Tay_

Gabriella looked at the note confused. What could Taylor possibly have to tell her? She folded up the note and put it into her pencil case.

When the bell rang Gabriella started making her way to Chemistry class, meeting up with Matt along the way. They talked the whole way there and when they reached the class Gabriella went to his desk and talked to him until the Mr. Chang told everyone to take their seats. Gabriella sighed; she really didn't want to have to deal with Troy today. She didn't care if they fought, she didn't care if he bugged her. The only reason she didn't want to deal with him was because she was embarrassed that he knew how vulnerable she was. She didn't know why she cared so much that he knew how much he hurt, he should, it should make him feel guilty. That was the thing though; she was embarrassed that he knew because he didn't care how much he hurt her.

She reluctantly walked over to her to her seat and sat down. She kept her head down and didn't look at Troy. She thought if she didn't make eye contact everything would be alright, but boy was she wrong.

**A/N: So here's chapter 5. Sorry I haven't updated in a couple days I've been busy. I've already started chapter 6 so, hopefully I'll have that up by tomorrow. I hope you guys liked the chapter. Please review and let me know what you think. Anyways, hope you liked it and please review! Thanks for reading.**


	7. Fights and Effort

**Chapter 6: Fights and Effort**

Gabriella opened her books and looked up at Mr. Chang.

"How are you feeling?" she heard Troy whisper. She ignored him and kept listening to Mr. Chang. "Oh, so you're just going to ignore me now?" Troy kept trying to get one her nerves, but she wouldn't react. He pulled out some sheets of paper and crumpled them into balls and started chucking them at her head.

Gabriella felt herself being hit in the head with paper balls. She tried to ignore, she wasn't going to let him get to her. Not today. When she felt the fifth paper ball hit her in the side of the head, she lost it..

"Would you stop it? You're so fucking immature."

"You know you love me," he said with a smirk playing on his lips.

"Ha, ha, yeah right. You know I hate you."

"Ouch, that really hurt," he replied sarcastically. "But if you hate me, then how come when you were drunk you kept saying things like 'how could he do that to me? He was my best friend,'" Troy smirked.

"Why don't you just shut the fuck up you asshole," she hissed. "And exactly, I was drunk; I didn't know what I was saying."

"No, being drunk just doesn't allow you to filter your thoughts. You were saying exactly what you were feeling," Troy explained. "You know you still love me," he teased.

"How could I ever love someone like you? Someone who hurt me so bad, someone who puts everything thing else before me, and beside you don't need me to love you, you already love yourself enough," Gabriella grabbed her book and got up. "Mr. Chang is it alright if I move up I'm having a hard time seeing," she asked. Mr. Chang nodded and Gabriella moved into an empty seat in the first row.

After the bell rang signaling the end of first period Gabriella left the classroom quickly, before Troy could catch up to her. She went to her locker where she met up with Taylor.

"So, what do you have to tell me?" Gabriella asked curiously.

"Pardon?" Taylor asked having not heard the questioned.

"I asked you what you wanted to tell me," she repeated again.

"Oh," she nodded knowingly. She looked over Gabriella's shoulder and saw Troy approaching. "Um, how about I tell you later?"

"No, tell me now Tay. Come on," Gabriella begged.

"Gabriella, I really think you'd appreciate it if I told you later," Taylor said as Gabriella sighed.

"Fine," she replied pouting, that fake puppy dog pout. Taylor laughed.

"Not going to work Gabs. Come on let's head to class."

Second period went by fairly quickly, and next thing Gabriella knew she was on her way to lunch with Matt. They had immediately started up a conversation as they made their way down the halls. Gabriella and Matt walked into the cafeteria and found a table. They sat down and started talking.

"So, how come you switch seats today in chemistry?" Matt asked curiously.

"Oh you know the usual. Bolton and I were arguing and I was just tired of it so I moved," she replied honestly.

"How come you guys don't get along? He seems like a pretty cool guy." Gabriella sighed, as comfortable as she was with Matt, and she did trust him, she just wasn't ready to tell him.

"It's a really long story and it's not something I really want to talk about," she replied taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Oh, uh, okay than," he replied, the hint of curiosity still in his voice. "So, what are you doing Friday night?"

"Um, nothing yet, why?"

"Well, I wanted to invite you to our first home game and I was thinking maybe you could be my date to the after party?" he asked hopefully. Gabriella smiled.

"I'd love to go to the game and be your date to the party," she replied blushing. "Who's throwing the party?"  
"Zeke is," he replied simply. "Troy was supposed to be hosting it but he didn't want coach to be there, so Zeke agreed to host it." Gabriella nodded.

"Cool, it should be fun," she said with a smile. Gabriella and Matt got to know each other more during lunch. After lunch Gabriella felt she knew Matt pretty well, and he thought the same; however Gabriella knew differently. She had been honest with Matt, for the most part. She trusted him, she really did, but there were just certain things she didn't want to tell him, things that hurt too much to talk about. There was something Gabriella knew she would never be able to tell anyone.

As Gabriella made her way to her third period class, she couldn't help but think about how much she liked Matt. He was a really sweet guy and he was a lot of fun. She found herself very excited for the weekend. Normally parties weren't her scene, especially if Troy was there, but she didn't even care that he was going to be there. All she cared about was the fact that she was going to have an amazing night with Matt and she was sure of that. She walked into history class and sat in her usual seat in the front. She sat there quietly just thinking when she saw Troy walk into class; he looked at her and their eyes connected for a brief second before he looked away and took a seat at the back. Gabriella sighed and went back to her thoughts only this time it was a memory.

* * *

Troy walked into history and saw Gabriella seating in the front row. He looked at her and their eyes connected for a brief second before he looked away and took a seat at the back with his friends. They started to talk to him but he zoned out and thought of the past.

_It was the first day of grade three and Troy and Gabriella were standing at the bottom of Troy's driveway waiting for the school bus. They were both dressed nicely and had their backpacks. They were both excited to be going back to school because it meant they got to see all their friends and they got to spend all their time together._

_As they were standing at the end of the driveway they were making plans for the school year, such as what they'd play at recess, promising they would always seat together in class and on the bus and they would have as much fun as possible. They continued to make their plans, when the bus stopped. Gabriella climbed on the bus first and picked a seat and Troy joined her._

_"I'm so excited that we're in the same class again," Gabriella said with a huge smiled. Troy smiled back._

_"I know could you imagine if we weren't in the same class?" he asked. Gabriella thought about it for a second before answering._

"_That would be so hard, what would I do with out my best friend?" she replied. Troy laughed._

"_I know!" he agreed. "It would be as fun." Gabriella nodded in agreement._

"_Troy, can we make another promise?" Gabriella questioned seriously. Troy nodded._

"_Promise me, that we'll always sit together if we have class together, we'll always be friends and nothing will change that," she said. Troy looked at her and smiled._

"_Of course I promise that Gabi," he replied. "Beside, I already promised you we'd always be best friends."_

"_I know, I just wanted to make sure," she said smiling. "Best friends forever?" she questioned._

"_Best friends forever!" Troy said smiling back at her._

Troy was brought back to reality when he heard someone call his name.

"Troy, dude? Are you even paying attention?" he heard Jason asked.

"No, sorry. I zoned out." Jason started talking again, but Troy zoned out again. He thought of the memory. He sighed, _I guess forever was shorter than we thought_. Troy would never admit it to anyways, but he missed the days when he and Gabriella had been friends. Although, he knew why they weren't friends anymore he sometimes wondered if there was more behind it. Troy continued thinking about the past when the teacher started the lesson.

Troy sighed, why was he thinking about all this? He didn't know, but things had been weird lately. Not, things, more like he had been weird lately. For some reason he found he didn't want to be enemies with Gabriella. He didn't want his last year of high school to have all this arguing in it. He didn't know what he wanted. He didn't know if he wanted to be her friend again, or if he just wanted to be acquaintances who got along. Troy heard the teacher call his name. He snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the teacher. He heard Gabriella groan.

"Sorry, what did you say?" he asked politely.

"I said, you and Miss. Montez will be partners on the project I'm assigning." Troy heard Gabriella groan again, and her hand shot up in the air.

"Um, is there anyway I could work with someone else on this project?" she asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry, but the partnerships will not change," he said looking at Gabriella. Gabriella sighed. _Do all the teachers hate me?_ She asked herself.

Troy looked at Gabriella, maybe this was his chance to patch things up. Maybe just maybe they could get a long.

***

As the end of the day rolled round, Gabriella stood at her locker and was packing her bag when she felt a presence beside her. She looked over and saw Troy standing there.

"Hey partner," he said smiling. Gabriella looked at him curiously. Why was he being nice.

"Look," she said firmly. "Quit the act okay. I don't like you, you don't like me. We're stuck doing this project together, so let's just not pretend to be nice, okay? Oh, and I hope you realize that I won't be doing all the work and that I'll make sure you do your or I'll tell Mr. Webber that you didn't help," she said looking him in the eyes. Troy looked at her and immediately reacted without thinking.

"Well, sorry for trying to be nice. I thought maybe if we had to work together we might as well try and get along, but I guess I was wrong," he said angrily. Gabriella sighed her temper rising.

"That's the thing, Troy. I don't want to pretend to get a long, or try or whatever, when I know the second we're done this project you're going to go back to being the asshole," she said coldly. "Besides, you don't know how to be nice, at least not to me."

"What are you talking about, I've tried to be nice to you three times this year, and every time I try you start yelling at me," he exclaimed. Gabriella sighed.

"Whatever, this project isn't due for another three weeks so we'll deal with it later," she said slamming her locker door and walking towards the doors. Troy sighed. _This isn't going to be easy,_ he thought.

Gabriella walked out of the school and found Taylor waiting by her car.

"Hey Gabs, can you give me a ride home?" she questioned. Gabriella nodded before getting into the drivers side. She closed her door and started the car. She started to drive away when she remembered that Taylor had wanted to tell her something.

"What did you want to tell me earlier?" she questioned. Taylor turned to look at her and started replying.

"Well, this morning after you and Matt left for homeroom Chad and I went to talk to Troy, or rather I went with Chad who wanted to talk to Troy," Taylor continued telling the story when Gabriella cut her off.

"The short version please," she said as nicely as possible.

"Anyways, so then he was asking about you," she told her. Gabriella looked over at Taylor quickly before turning back to the road.

"What do you mean he was asking about me?"

"He was asking how you were, he seemed worried, or concerned rather," Taylor explained. "I think he feels bad about everything that happened."

"I don't know," Gabriella said slowly. "I mean he did try and be nice to me today, but I freaked out on him. I don't care though. He's an ass, it doesn't mean anything."

"Gabs, you need to get over this. If Troy's trying to put in an effort to be nice then you should too. It doesn't mean you have to become best friends again, but at least the arguing could stop." Gabriella sighed and thought about what Taylor was saying. Maybe she was right, if Troy was putting in an effort maybe she should too.

**A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it took me so long to update, I was really busy this week. I also was having a bit of writer's block. Anyways, here's chapter 6. ****I know the last couple of chapters have been short, but they're just filler chapters, laying out parts of the plots. I promise you it if going to get better. Please review and let me know what you think. You reviews, help encourage me to keep writing this story. I hope you guys liked it!**


	8. Saturday Confusion

**Chapter 7: Saturday Confusion**

It was a beautiful Saturday morning and Gabriella had gotten up early to go for a run. Although she'd been out the previous night until late, she was so excited she had a hard time sleeping. The previous night the basketball team had won their first home game, then they all went over to Zeke's house for an amazing after party. Gabriella had spent the entire night with Matt, and they had a great time. The reason that Gabriella was so excited was because Matt had asked her out. He was so cute, and the memory kept replaying in her mind.

_The DJ had put on a slow song and Gabriella found herself dancing with Matt yet again. They had been having an amazing night and the more time she spent with Matt the more she liked him. She looked up at him and saw him smiling down at her. _

_"I'm having an amazing time," she mentioned as she looked into his gorgeous green eyes. His smile grew bigger as he responded._

_"I'm really glad; I'm having an amazing time too. There's actually something I wanted to ask you." Gabriella looked up at him curiously._

_"What?" she asked, her curiosity growing._

_"Come with me," he said as he grabbed her hand and started to lead her towards the door._

_"Where are we going?" she asked._

_"Outside," he replied simply as he opened the door and led her outside. He took her over to the bench that was situated under the tree. He sat down and motioned for Gabriella to join him. She sat down and continued to look at him curiously. He smiled._

_"You're so cute when you're confused," he mentioned, as Gabriella blushed._

_"So, what did you want to ask me?" He looked down at his feet and there was a silence between them. She heard him take a breath before he started to talk._

_"I know we haven't known each other for that long, but every minute I spend with you I find myself falling for you more and more," he paused and looked up at Gabriella. "So, I was just, uh, wondering if you, um, wanted to be my girlfriend?" he asked hopefully. Gabriella smiled and looked at him._

_"I would love to be your girlfriend," she exclaimed, wrapping her arm around his neck and pulling him into a hug. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. As she pulled away, he lightly brushed his lips up against hers. As they pulled away from the kiss they both smiled at each other. _

Gabriella had had a smile plastered on her face for the rest of the night, nothing got her down. Not even when she spotted Troy going upstairs with girl after girl. Gabriella didn't care; she was the happiest person on earth. She had run up and told Taylor and Sharpay the first chance she got. They had been ecstatic; they hadn't seen Gabriella that happy in years.

When Gabriella finished her run she went upstairs to take a shower when she saw that she had a message on her phone. She opened her phone and listened to the message.

"Morning beautiful," the voice said, and Gabriella smiled. "I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out today. Let me know whenever you get this message, bye." Gabriella immediately called Matt back. The phone rang twice before he picked it up.

"Hello?" his voice answered.

"Hey," Gabriella said cheerfully. "I just got your message and I was wondering if you wanted to come hang out here?" she asked.

"I'd love to," he replied, and Gabriella could tell he was smiling on the other line.

"Great, come over around noon, if that's good for you."

"That's perfect, I'll see you soon," he replied.

"Bye," Gabriella said before hanging up. She put her phone down and went to take a shower.

* * *

Troy woke up Saturday morning with a bit of a headache. He rolled over in his bed and grabbed the aspirin bottle sitting beside his bed. He opened the bottle and swallowed the pill with some water. He put his water down and laid back down in his bed. Troy had had an amazing night last night. His team at won their first game of the season, and first home game and he had an amazing time at Zeke's party.

_Troy pulled up to Zeke's house in his car. __He walked into the house and everyone started cheering his name._

"_Congrats on winning the game," a cheerleader said as she gave him a kiss. "Meet me upstairs later?"_

"_Of course," he replied as he continued to make his way through the crowd. Everyone was congratulating him, patting him of the back and giving him high fives. The girls were all over him, and Troy was in heaven. He loved all the attention. As he finished making his way through the crowd he walked over to the drinks table, where his teammate, Matt, turned around. _

"_Awesome job tonight, captain," he said cheerfully. Troy looked at him and tried to smile._

"_Thanks," he replied. It wasn't that he didn't like Matt; there was just something about him that Troy didn't like. Troy felt someone come up behind him and wrapped their arm around him._

"_Congrats Troy," she girl said excitedly. She brought her face close to her ear, causing Troy to groan when he felt her breath on his ear. "I think we need to celebrate," she whispered seductively. Troy smirked and looked over his shoulder at her. _

"_I think your right," he responded with a wink. He grabbed her hand and pushed past Matt, and for the first time realized he was with Gabriella. Troy looked at her and saw that her eyes were fixed on Matt's. __He looked at her one last time before pushing past her and leading the cheerleader upstairs._

As the night went on Troy had managed to go upstairs with three more girls, and hook-up with many others on the dance floor. He had also gotten drunk and had an amazing time. You could say he was the typical jock, good at sports, captain of his team, didn't care about his grade, was a partier and of course a player. Ever since high school had started Troy had always been a player, he didn't know why but it just happened, and that's who he was.

He rolled out of bed, and picked up his phone. He dialed Chad's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?" Chad asked through a yawn.

"Hey man, it's Troy."

"Oh, hey man. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to come over and play some one on one."

"Yeah, sure. What time do you want me to come over?"

"Um, whenever. It really doesn't matter I'm home all day."

"Okay, I'll be over around 11:30, noon-ish," he replied.

"Awesome see you then," Troy said before hanging up. He grabbed a pair of sport short and one of his wildcat t-shirts and went to take a shower.

***

Noon rolled around quickly, and Gabriella found herself in Matt's presence in no time. He greeted her with a kiss, and she then gave him a tour of the house. Then she showed him the backyard and they took a seat on the hammock.

"Where's your mom?" he asked curiously.

"She got called into work about an hour ago," she replied. "She a nurse so it happens a lot."

"It must be hard," he mentioned. "I mean with your dad gone and everything."

"Yeah sometimes, but we've adjusted and I'm used to being home alone now. Sometimes it can get pretty lonely though," she replied honestly and looked up at him.

"Well, you've got me now, so anytime you're lonely just give me a call and I'll come keep you company," he said with a smile. He wrapped his arms around Gabriella and pulled her closer. He bent his head down and connected there lips. It started out slow and sweet, until he licked Gabriella's bottom lip begging for entrance. She opened her mouth and their tongues began to battle for dominance. They eventually pulled away for breath. Gabriella cuddled into him as they continued to talk.

* * *

Chad knocked on Troy's door just after noon. Troy greeted him and let him into the house. They walked through the house and into the kitchen. Troy went to the fridge and grabbed himself a water bottle tossing one to his friend. Chad grabbed the water bottle and the basketball and then opened the screen door leading to Troy backyard. He walk out the door closely followed by Troy over to the basketball court Troy's dad had put in the yard. They started by warm up and practicing some free throws while they talked.

"So dude, what's the deal with you and Taylor?" Troy asked curiously as he threw the ball and it went into the basket.

"Well, right now we're friends, I guess. I'm thinking about asking her out though, I just don't know when," he replied as he took the ball and did a lay-up.

"You really like her don't you?" Chad nodded.

"She a great girl, I never thought I'd fall for someone like her, but she's actually so cool." Troy nodded and Chad saw a hint of confusion in his eyes.

"Must be nice," he said as he did a lay-up.

"You could find that too Troy," Chad mentioned.

"Nah, not really my style, but thanks," he said as he stood in front of his friend. "Ready to go down, Danforth?"

"Yeah, in your dreams Bolton. I'm so going to beat you," he said as he stole the ball and headed for the net.

* * *

Matt stopped talking when he heard the sound of bouncing basketballs.

"What's that," he asked inquisitively.

"Oh, that's just the neighbors," she replied simply. "They have a basketball court."

"Really, that's sweet," he replied. When he heard someone speak.

"Ready to go down, Danforth?" the voice said.

"Yeah, in your dreams Bolton. I'm so going to beat you," the other person responded. Matt's eye grew wide.

"Wait," he said confused. "You live next door to Bolton?" Gabriella sighed.

"Unfortunately," she said as she heard the phone ring inside. "I'll be right back," she said getting up and walking inside. Once Gabriella was in the house Matt got up off the hammock and walked over to the gate. He opened it and saw Chad and Troy on the other side just a short distance away. He walked through the gate and made his way towards the court. Chad who spotted him first stopped.

"Troy, look," he said pointing towards Matt. Troy turned around and rolled his eyes.

"Great," he muttered.

"Hey guys," Matt grinned as he reached the court. Chad and Troy looked at him confused.

"What are you doing here?" asked irritated because he'd interrupted their game.

"Oh um, I'm hanging out with my girlfriend," he said proudly. Chad and Troy jaws dropped.

"Wait, since when have you been dating Montez?" Troy asked confused.

"Since last night," he replied with a smirk. Troy's eyes narrowed. There was an awkward silence, until Chad spoke up.

"Well, uh congrats," Chad said, not knowing what else to say.

"Thanks," Matt replied.

"Yeah, congrats," Troy replied sarcastically. Troy turned away from Matt and started doing some lay-ups. Chad stood there not knowing what to do when he heard Gabriella's voice.

"Matt?" she called from the deck. Matt looked over at her, as she came through the gate.

"Yeah?" he asked her as she got closer.

"My mom wants to know if you want to stay for supper," she replied. Matt nodded.

"I'd love to," he smiled. Gabriella grinned at him and then put the phone back up to her ear.

"He's going to stay," Gabriella told her mom excitedly. "Yeah, okay. Bye mom," she said before hanging up the phone. Gabriella turned her attention towards Chad. "Hey," she said cheerfully giving him a hug.

"Hey," he said as she pulled away. "How come you didn't tell me you guys were dating?"

"It just happened yesterday and I told Tay, I thought she would tell you," Gabriella explained.

"Oh," Chad said and then followed Gabriella's gaze as it fell on Troy who was still doing lay-ups ignoring the conversation going on. Chad looked at Gabriella and saw that she was following his every movement. He continued to watch her, while upholding a conversation with Matt at the same time. Why was she watching him like that? He was wondering. Didn't she hate him? Gabriella finally pulled her eyes away and looked over at Chad and Matt.

"We should probably head back," she mentioned. Matt looked down at her and nodded. He grabbed Gabriella's hand, and looked at Chad.

"Great seeing you, maybe I can join you guys one day," he said referring to the basketball game they had going on. Chad nodded.

"Yeah maybe," he replied.

"See you at school on Monday," he called to Troy who turned around and looked at them nodding. He noticed Matt and Gabriella's hands and glared at them.

"See yeah," he said before turning back to the basket. Chad watched Gabriella and Matt walk back over to her house hand in hand before walking back over to the court.

"Well, that was weird," he said as he grabbed the ball.

"Yeah," Troy agreed as he went and sat down on the grass and took a sip from his water bottle. Chad walked over and sat beside him.

"I think she likes you," Chad said before he could stop himself.

"What are you talking about?" Troy asked looking at Chad as if he was a crazy person. "Of course she doesn't like, in fact she hates me."

"But you like her?" Chad guessed. Troy glared at him.

"We've been over this, I don't like her," he snapped.

"Whatever you say, but I still think she likes you. She was watching you, while Matt was talking to me. She didn't take her eyes off of you," he explained.

"So, that doesn't mean anything. She was probably just thinking about all the bitchy comments she could say to me," Troy said, putting down his water bottle and laying back in the grass.

"Dude, that's definitely not it. There was no hate in her eyes as she watched you."

"Chad, give it up man. She doesn't like me and I," he stopped as he thought about it. Did he really not like her? Or was he just trying to convince himself that he didn't.

"Like her," Chad finished for him. Troy looked up the sky.

"Whatever, it doesn't even matter nothing would ever happen, we have too much history," he said as he watched the clouds.

"Aha, so you do like her," Chad said triumphantly. Troy sat up and glared at Chad.

"I never said that," he said defensively.

"I was implied," Chad grinned.

"No it wasn't, all I was trying to say is that she doesn't like me and I don't like her and even if one of us did, nothing could ever happen because there's too much history. But I don't like her, she's a fucking bitch and I hate her."

"Whatever, let's get back to the game," Chad said as he stood up and grabbed the ball.

Troy and Chad spent the rest of the afternoon playing basketball and joking around, just like when they were younger. It was what Troy needed, an afternoon of male bonding, because he knew that next week he'd have to deal with his and Gabriella's project which he was not looking forward to, or was he?

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's chapter 7, I hope you liked it. I want to thank everyone who's been reviewing. I really appreciate it. I'm hoping to have chapter 8 up ASAP. Please review this chapter, however, and let me know what you guys think. Thanks for reading!**


	9. It All Comes Out

**Chapter 8: It All Comes Out**

Wednesday night rolled around quickly, and Gabriella was not looking forward to it at all. Gabriella and Troy had spoken earlier that week and had agreed to get together and start working on their project. Gabriella suggested having him come over to her place and after a bit of arguing he finally agreed. Gabriella sat at home enjoying her last minutes of alone time. She was sitting on her couch thinking, when a particular memory came up.

_It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, and a fourteen year old Gabriella Montez was sitting in the kitchen watching her mom cook. Gabriella sighed. _

"_Mom, I'm bored," she complained._

"_Honey, I'm busy right now. Why don't you go over and hang out with Troy."_

"_I told you mom, we're not friends and more," she replied with a hint of sadness in her voice. "And he's probably too busy flirting with some slut anyways," she mumbled._

"_What was that?" she asked curiously._

"_I just said we aren't friends anymore, you know that mom."_

"_Gabi, honey, why don't you go talk to him, maybe you guys can work this out."_

"_We can't; I've tried, he doesn't want anything to do with me," she replied a tear rolling down her cheek. "He really hurt me mom." Maria Montez walked over to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her._

"_I know sweetie," she said comforting her daughter. Gabriella buried her face in her mother's shoulder and started to cry. It had been a year and a bit since Troy and Gabriella stopped talking completely. When they started middle school they were slowly drifting apart and then grade nine happened and everything changed. Troy had turned into a complete ass to Gabriella and everything was different between then from then on. They didn't talk unless they were arguing or unless they were forced to. Gabriella found herself hoping things would get better, but that wish never came true. _

Gabriella was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when she heard the doorbell ring. She went over to the door and saw Troy standing holding his binder and text book. Gabriella looked at him and couldn't help but check him out. He was wearing a navy v-neck sweater with a white t-shirt underneath and a pair of faded jeans. Gabriella looked him up and down with her eyes. _He looks hot,_ she thought and then mentally kicked herself. _What the hell Gabriella, you can't be thinking of Bolton that way; you hate him, remember? _Gabriella shook her head and looked up at him. He was leaning against the doorway staring at her.

"Are you going to make me stand out here all night or are you going to invite me in?" he asked with a smirk.

"Oh yeah, sorry, come on in," she replied embarrassed as she stepped aside and let him pass. She shut the door behind him and followed him towards the living room. Troy looked around racking his head for something to say.

"The house looks the same as it used to," he said lamely. He heard Gabriella laugh quietly behind him.

"Well, you were here just a little over a month ago," she responded a hint of attitude in her voice.

"Oh, yeah," he shrugged. "But I meant it looks the same as it did when we were little."

"The house may not have changed, but hell of a lot of other things have," she said bitterly. He turned around and looked at her seeing the pain in her eyes. "Let's stop the small talk and get to work," she said walking over to the kitchen table.

"If it makes it any better, I'm sorry," Troy said sincerely. Gabriella looked up and him and then quickly looked down at her notebook.

"Thanks, but it doesn't," she said as she flipped through her book. She looked up and saw Troy frozen in his tracks. "I don't know why you'd think a simple 'I'm sorry' would make everything better," she said looking back down.

"Well, what can I do then?" he questioned coming to sit down across from her. She looked up at him, searching his face. Troy could see the anger in her eyes, as she looked at him.

"There's nothing you can fucking do Troy. You have no idea how much you fucking hurt me? You don't have any idea what I went through. I always thought we'd be best friends forever and then you turned around and stabbed me in the back," she said trying to hold back tears. Troy felt his tempering rising. Here he was trying to fix this and she was being a huge bitch once again. He tried to control his temper as he responded.

"Why do you always have to be such a fucking bitch to me?" he questioned. "Here I am, sitting right in front of you trying to fix this and you're just yelling at me? Why do you hate me so much?"

"Why am I being a bitch to you?!?" he exclaimed, her eyes filled with tears. "You have to be fucking kidding me. I wonder why I'm such a bitch to you, oh, could it possibly be the way you've treated me all these years? Could it maybe have anything to with the fact that you've been a complete and total jackass to me?" she asked sardonically. "And did you seriously ask me why I hated you so much? If you don't know the answer to that then you are the fucking stupidest son-of-a-bitch I have ever met in my life." Gabriella was fuming she couldn't control herself. All the years of pain she suffered was finally coming out. "This is never going to fix itself, Troy, it can't."

"You know what; maybe we can fix this if you just tried. I've been putting an effort in these last couple of weeks trying to make it better and what have you been doing? Oh that right, sitting back on your fucking ass and not doing anything about," he yelled. Gabriella stood up, fire buring in her eyes.

"This isn't my problem to fix, Troy. I'm not the one who even started this war or whatever you want to call it," she yelled.

"Don't put the whole blame on me," he replied angrily.

"What are you talking about? This whole thing is your fault!"

"How is this whole thing my fucking fault?" asked angrily.

"Are you fucking kidding me? How is the whole thing your fault? Troy, where have you been all these years? Living in a fucking hole?" Gabriella paused and glared at him. "Let me take you back, to the beginning of middle school. We slowly started to drift apart, and I was fine with that. Things like that happen. We still hung out on weekends and I loved that. I looked forward to the weekend just so that I could spend that time with you. You were my best friend, I could go to you for anything, anything and I always thought you felt the same way. I thought you felt you felt the same way about be. I thought you could trust me and turn to me for anything, but I guess I was wrong. Fast forward two years and you wanted absolutely nothing you do with me. You ignored my calls; ditch me for your new 'friends', picked fucking sluts over me and you started to bully me. I swore to myself that I would never let you know how much you hurt me, but I don't give a fuck anymore, Troy. I want to you to know how much you hurt me. I want you to feel guilty about everything you've done you me. You made my life a living hell!" she screamed, Troy looked taken aback. Gabriella took a breath before continuing.

"You know, my parents always told me high school would be the best years of my life, but they were wrong. You know there are maybe a handful of great memories that I'll take away from high school, my whole fucking entire high school experience and the rest is fucking crap. And I want you to know that I blame it completely on you because you were the one that made if the worst experience of my life, Troy, you and know one else." Gabriella had tears streaming down her face. Every single emotion she had felt towards Troy over the years was coming out.

"Gabi," Troy began but Gabriella cut him off.

"Don't you fucking Gabi me, Troy Bolton," she snapped. "You know, I always knew high school would have its ups and downs, and that there would be people who I didn't get along with or even hated. But I never thought in a million years that the person I hated the most would end but being my best friend, sorry _ex_-best friend," she said resentfully. "Do you want to know the one reason I was looking forward to this year?" she asked as her tears continued to fall. Troy hesitated before answering.

"Why?"

"Because after this year I never have to see your fucking face ever again," she yelled before collapsing on the floor and crying. "What happened to the Troy Bolton I used to love?" He heard her mutter between sobs. Troy felt tears sting his eyes, he had a feeling she didn't want him to here that, but he heard it none the less. He never knew how much he'd actually hurt her and he felt horrible. He knew she was right; there was no way he could ever make up for that pain, never. He got up from his chair and walked over to Gabriella and placed his hand on the balling Gabriella's shoulder.

"Gabi, sorry Gabriella, I am really so sorry, and I wish I could take everything back; I really do," he said sincerely, suddenly feeling her slap his hand.

"Get your fucking hand off of me, don't fucking touch, keep your fucking apology and get the fuck out of my house!" she yelled between sobs. Troy looked at her taken aback and scared. He knew she was serious. He slowly got up and grabbed his book. He looked back at her and whispered,

"What about the project?" Gabriella could tell his voice was filled with, but she didn't give a fuck; he deserved it.

"Screw the project, I'd rather fail then have to work with you," she snapped. Troy frowned and turned towards the door.

"Bye Gabriella," he muttered before walking towards the door. As he walked outside he felt a tear sting his cheek and after the first one felt there was no stopping them. Troy ran back to his house and ran up to his room and locked himself in, throwing himself on his bed. Anyone who saw Troy crying would've bugged him about it for the rest of his life. He had a reputation, the tough guy reputation, but he didn't care. He had hurt the one person who used to mean the world to him, and he didn't know why he did it in the first place.

_It was the second week of grade nine and Troy was standing in the hallway with a bunch of his friends watching people walk by. He saw a familiar petite figure walk around the corner and he smiled. It was Gabriella, and although they had drifted apart he still cared for her a lot. In fact, he even had a crush on her. As she got closer to the group, one of the guys tripped her._

_"Have a nice fall geek?" the boy asked, while laughing. The rest of the group started to join in, calling her names such as geek, nerd, freak, loser, and they were kicking her books around the hall. They suddenly stopped and looked over at Troy. He looked at them confused._

_"Well, aren't you going to make fun of freaky math girl?" one of the guys asked. Troy looked down and saw Gabriella look up at him, her eyes filled with water. Troy then looked back at the group, who all had encouraging eyes, before Troy could stop himself, he found himself making the biggest mistake of his life, that he would one day regret. He looked down and saw Gabriella still trying to collect her books. He bent down and picked up a book. He saw her look up at him with a smile and he grabbed the book and threw it over to one of his friends. They began throwing the book around while Gabriella stood up and tried to intercept it, however she had no luck. The book was tossed back to Troy and he heard her beg._

_"Please Troy," she said on the verge of tears. "Please just give me my book." Troy avoided her eyes and threw it in the garbage can._

_"Go get it, Montez," he grinned. He saw sadness wash over Gabriella's face; she quickly grabbed her book and ran off in the other direction. The guys started to high five and laugh about what happened. Troy high fived them back but couldn't help but feel guilty. _

As the school years went on, the bullying became worse and worse and Troy found himself feeling less and less guilty. He and Gabriella had started to disagree on everything, they couldn't have a decent conversation and they were always arguing. Gabriella spent a lot of time with her close group of friends, which consisted of Taylor, Sharpay, Ryan and Kelsi. She liked her group of friends, she could trust them and they were just about the only people in the school who didn't make fun of her. Once you were on Troy Bolton's bad side you were on just about everyone else's bad side.

Troy on the other hand, had become the most popular guy in the school, the moment he stepped through the doors. He had everything, everything that matter to him anyways. He started to not care that he's lost one friend. What did he need her for anyways, when he had the rest of the school wrapped around his finger? The hatred between Troy and Gabriella grew over the years and he found he never really cared, up until this school year. For some reason he found himself wanting to resolve everything.

After the big blow out with Gabriella, Troy spent the rest of the night in his bedroom thinking about everything she had said. For the first time he had realized everything he had really done and how much he had hurt her. When Troy thought about his high school experience, he would say that they were the best days of his life, so far at least. And it killed him inside to know that he had made Gabriella's high school experience a horrible one. To say he felt terrible was an understatement, he felt worse than terrible. If Troy could go back to the beginning of high school he would. He would never have gone along with his friends. He would've stood up for Gabriella, even if that meant no one would talk to him. Heck he would go back to the beginning middle school if it meant everything would be better because the more and more he thought about, the more he realized it really had started in middle school.

_In was a warm Saturday and Troy and Gabriella were hanging out in his back yard playing basketball. They were having a great time and were joking around when Gabriella suddenly took off with the ball. Troy chased after her and tackled her to the ground. Gabriella continued to hold on to the ball tightly __and refused to give it back. She was laughing the whole time and Troy started to tickle her, trying to get the ball back._

_"Troy stop, please stop," she laughed. "I'll __give you the ball," she stated as she threw it away. "There see," she said between laughs. "It's all yours." Troy didn't care though he continued to tickle her when he heard someone clear their throat. He looked up and saw Samantha, one of the girls from school standing there._

_"Hey Troy," she said flirtatiously. _

_"Hey Sam," he replied getting up from the ground and walking over. Gabriella looked up at Troy and Sam and sighed._

_"What are you doing with her?" Sam asked disgusted._

_"We were just hanging out," he replied simply._

_"Oh," she said shocked. "You hang out with her?" she said quietly thinking Gabriella couldn't hear her._

_"Yeah, I do," he replied honestly. _

_"Well, I was going to see if you want to hang out today, but if you're to busy," she began but Troy interrupted._

_"No, I'd love to hang out, really. I wasn't busy at all. Just give me one second." He turned back to Gabriella and bent down. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked. Gabriella shook her head although he saw the sadness in her eyes._

_"No, go ahead," she whispered. _

_"Awesome, bye Gabriella," he said and got up and started walking away with Sam. _

Troy remembered turning around once and seeing Gabriella sulking back over to her house. At the time Troy was too caught up in his other friends that he didn't make much of it. But if he could go back to that day now, he would've turn down Sam and stayed and hung out with Gabriella.

The more Troy thought about it the more he regretted everything he'd done. He also started to realize that maybe Chad had been right. Maybe he did like Gabriella, no not maybe, he did. He liked Gabriella Montez, and he wasn't afraid to admit it to himself anymore. What hurt him the most was he knew that he had hurt Gabriella so much that she would never give him another chance at being a friend, let alone something more. He knew he had to make it up to her somehow. He didn't know how, he didn't know what he was going to do, all he knew was he was going to have to think of something fast. He didn't want to sit back and watch another year fly by, something had to change, and he was going to do everything it took to get her back or at least forgive him. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he was willing to do it, no matter what it took.

**A/N: Well, there you have it Chapter 8. I hope you guys liked it. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. ****Please let me know what you thought of the chapter I would really appreciate it. The plot is going to start moving a lot more now. I know exactly what I want to happen it the next upcoming chapters so hopefully I'll have those up for you guys soon! I want to thank everyone for reading and I want to thank those who have been review I really appreciate it!**


	10. Progress

****

Chapter 9: Progress

The rest of the week went by extremely slow for Troy. Gabriella was ignoring him in everyway possible, he wouldn't look at him, ignored him when he spoke, stop listening if anyone mentioned his name and she ignored his presence. Troy felt as if he was invisible to her. It was Friday afternoon and the dismissal bell had just rung. Troy walked out of class, ignoring everything and everyone around him. People were calling his name, but he just kept walking; he didn't want to talk to anyone, unless it was Gabriella.

When he got to his locker Troy opened it up and started packing his bag. He looked over and saw the empty space between him and Taylor, he sighed. She was avoiding him and he couldn't take it. He needed to figure everything out. As he finished packing his bag he turned around and saw Gabriella, he felt a small smile on his face as he saw her smile. Troy thought she was smiling at him but then as people moved he saw that she was walking hand in hand with Matt. He felt jealousy burn through his veins. He quickly turned his head and walked towards the door he could bear to watch them.

As Troy exited the school and walked towards the car he saw two familiar people standing by his car. He walked over reluctantly. Chad and Zeke were his best friends but he really didn't want to talk to them. As he got to his car, Chad gave him a one handed man hug.

"Are you hanging out with us tomorrow?" he asked, before noticing the look on Troy's face. Troy shook his head, and Chad finally noticed the sadness in his eyes.

"I can't," Troy replied simply.

"What's up with you, man?" Zeke asked curiously, Chad with a look of curiosity on his face as well. Troy looked at them confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's just you've been acting really weird since Thursday, what's up?" Chad replied watching his best friend closely.

"Um, nothing, just stressed I guess," he lied. "But, I don't really want to talk about it. Look, I'll see you guys Monday," he said getting into his car. Chad opened the passenger's door and looked at Troy.

"Why can't you come hang out tomorrow?"

"I've just got a lot of homework to catch up on," he said. Chad laughed.

"You've got homework to do? Since when do you care about homework?"

"I just can't alright," he snapped. Chad and Zeke stepped away from the car.

"Alright," they replied in unison. They watched Troy drive away from the school before turning to each other.

"Something is seriously up with him," Zeke pointed out the obvious. Chad nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, and we're going to find out what."

* * *

Gabriella was walking towards her locker with Matt, laughing at his jokes when she noticed Troy speeding off towards the door. Gabriella was furious with him. She hadn't spoken a word to them since their fight, and she couldn't care less. Troy had hurt her so bad over the course of five years, that she didn't care anymore; she was glad that he was feeling horrible. She hadn't worked on the project at all and she didn't care. Gabriella wasn't going to do all the work and let Troy take credit, no there was no way that was happening. It made Gabriella very stressed to think about failing, so she tried to keep herself as occupied as possible by hanging out with her friends, and mostly Matt.

Over the week she felt herself growing closer to Matt, but it just seemed as if something was missing; she just couldn't quite put her finger on it. Although it bothered her in the back of her mind she pushed it aside and let herself enjoy Matt's company.

"So, what are we doing this weekend?" Gabriella asked Matt as she began opening her locker.

"Hmm, well I was thinking maybe a movie at my house on Saturday," he replied with a smile. "We can cuddle up on the couch, grab some junk food, and just relax and spend some time together," he added. Gabriella smiled; she loved the idea of it all. That was what she needed. She needed to spend some time with her boyfriend and just relax and forget about everything.

"That sounds perfect. Look, I've got to get going I promised the girls I'd meet them at the mall, I'll see you tomorrow," she leaned up and brushed his lips softly with her own.

"Bye, I'll miss you," he grinned.

"I'll miss you too," she blew him a kiss before walking out the school and towards her car. Gabriella got to her car and started the engine. She was glad the week was over. She was looking forward to some downtime and spending some time with her girls. She slowly pulled out of the school parking lot and headed towards the mall, where she was meeting Sharpay, Taylor and Kelsi. They were going to meet do some shopping and then go back to Sharpay's house for a sleepover. It was just what Gabriella needed.

* * *

Troy was sitting in his room with his books open taking notes. He felt so bad about everything, and he needed to make it up to Gabriella some how. For starters he thought he would do the entire project and hand it in, so that she didn't fail. Troy knew Gabriella was mad, but he knew she was probably stressing about failing. Maybe she'd take the project as a piece offering. Oh, but who was he trying to kid? This project was going to fix everything, but it would be progress, maybe she'd start talking to him again.

After a couple hours of working on the project Troy decided to take a break. He grabbed his basketball and walked downstairs when he heard the doorbell ring. He walked over to the door and answered it. He saw Chad and Zeke standing at the door.

"Um, hey. What are you guys doing here?" he asked confused. "I told you I have homework to work on."

"Really? 'Cause it looks like your about to shoot some hoops. Do you mind if we join you?" Troy shook his head.

"No, come on," he said as he led the way through the house and to his backyard. They started passing the ball around and taking shots when Chad broke the silence.

"So dude, what's going on with you? You've been down ever since Wednesday and you've been super quiet, you're never quiet, especially around girls, " he said as he grabbed the ball and looked at Troy. Troy sighed. He really didn't want to tell his friends about what happened.

"Nothing, I'm just stressed."

"Bullshit," Chad said calling his bluff. Troy walked over and sat on the grass. He started picking the grass.

"Well," he began. "On Wednesday night I went over to Gabi's to work on our project," he went to continue but Chad cut him off.

"Wait, Gabi?" Troy glared at him. "Sorry continue."

"Anyways," Troy went on telling them the entire story. When he was done Chad and Zeke looked at him confused.

"So what's the problem? You've known that all along. Did you honestly think that you bullying her didn't affect her? Why does it surprise you so much?" Zeke pointed out and Chad elbowed him in the stomach. Troy took a deep breath.

"It's just, I guess I never really thought about you know. I mean I knew that it hurt her, but I didn't know it hurt her that much, so much that she's happy to be leaving high school. She said that she would only have a small handful of good memories coming out of high school, and the rest are crap. She also said she blamed it all on me."

"So," Chad said. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I have to make it up to her. No, I _need_ to make it up to her. I feel so bad all the time, about everything. If I could go back to the day it first started I would change everything."

"There's one more thing," Troy said. Chad and Zeke looked at him confused.

"What?" they asked in unison.

"I, um, I guess you were right Chad, about everything." Troy saw a smirk grow on Chad's face while Zeke had a puzzled expression.

"I knew it!" Chad exclaimed. "You totally like her, don't you?" Troy looked down at the grass and nodded. "So, what are you going to do?"

"Well, I've got some ideas," he paused. "Like the project, but I'm going to need your help. Do you think you could talk to Tay for me?" He looked at Chad with pleading eyes.

"Yeah, of course."

***

Gabriella woke up Monday morning with a smile on her face. She'd had an amazing weekend. She's gone out with the girl and had a girls night Friday evening, Saturday she had an amazing time hanging out with Matt and Sunday she relaxed and had some alone time. She couldn't be happier. She got out of bed and walked over to her calendar to see what she had to do today. Her eyes fell on the date and her mood immediately fell. Today was the day she was supposed to hand in her project, the project her and Troy never finished; the project that she was going to fail.

Gabriella sighed; she could tell already that the day was going to be horrible. She grabbed her outfit for the day and walked into the bathroom and turned on the hot water. She figured a warm shower would help her feel better.

* * *

It was Monday morning and Troy woke up feeling very stiff. He opened his eyes and found a bunch of blurry words in front in his face. He slowly lifted his head and found that he'd fallen asleep at his desk, face first in his textbook. He groaned, while rubbing his eyes. He looked over at his alarm clock and saw that he had slept in. He only had ten minutes to get to school or he'd be late. He quickly got up from his desk and grabbed the first clothes he found on his floor. He quickly brushed his teeth and sprayed himself with cologne. He grabbed his books and shoved them in his bag before running down the stairs. He grabbed a granola bar and his keys before heading out the door.

Troy got to school with seconds to spare. He simply grabbed his bag out of his car and went straight to homeroom. When he walked in he found that almost everyone was already there. He walked to his seat and sat down staring at the front. He was in his own little world when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

"Dude, what happened to you?" he heard Chad ask. Troy turned in his seat and looked at his friend.

"I was up late working on homework, and I slept in and had ten minutes to get to school."

"That sucks, did you finish it though?" Troy nodded, he was about to answer when Ms. Darbus started to talk. He turned around and started to listen to her.

***

There was ten minutes left of lunch and Troy was standing at his locker with Chad. Chad was talking to him about the basketball game, but Troy's attention was elsewhere. He looked down the hall and spotted her. She looked beautiful; she was wearing a flowery dress and a pair of heels. Her hair was tied half up and the rest of her curls hung loose. She was beautiful; Troy didn't know how he could've ever let her go. He finally pulled his eyes away from her and he noticed that she walking hand in hand with Matt. Troy's eyes narrowed. Why was she even with him? She didn't deserve someone like him; she deserved someone better, someone way better. He was a player, maybe even worse than Troy.

"Dude, dude!" Chad exclaimed waving his hand in front of his face. "Were you paying attention to anything I said?" Troy shook his head.

"No sorry." Chad followed Troy gaze and saw Gabriella.

"It'll work, she'll appreciate." Troy nodded.

* * *

Gabriella had just gotten her books when the warning bell rang. She was walking down the hall when she saw someone on the ground trying to collect their books.

"Here let me help you," she said as she got down and started to collect some books and handing them to the young girl.

"Thanks," she replied shyly. Gabriella nodded.

"You're welcome," she said before entering history class, dreading it more than ever. She walked in and her seat, looking up at the board she saw that it read projects due today. She put her head down on her desk. Why hadn't she just sucked it up and done the project? She lifted her head just as a duo-tang was dropped on her desk. She grabbed the duo-tang and opened it. Inside she found her project, completed. All of it was there and it had been done correctly. She looked back and saw Troy sitting at his desk looking at her. He looked awful she thought. He was wearing a pair of wrinkled jeans, a wrinkled t-shirt and his hair was all over the place. Gabriella smiled at him. She got up from her desk and walked over to him.

"Thank you so much," she said handing the duo-tang back to him. "But I can't put my name on it, I didn't help." Troy shook his head.

"It's too late it's already on it," he said as he opened the book and pointed to her name. "Besides it's the least I could do."

"Alright class, please bring your projects up to the front." Troy grabbed the duo-tang and handed it to Gabriella.

"You can do the honors," he said. Gabriella slowly reached out and grabbed the duo-tang.

"Thanks again," she said with a smile before she walked off towards the front of the class. Troy smiled at himself, it had work. He hadn't completely patched up their relationship but he had made progress.

**A/N: Hey everybody! Sorry I haven't updated in nearly a month, I've been super busy. Also, every time I sat down to try and write this chapter I was having difficulties. I wasn't quite sure where I wanted it to go, I knew what I wanted by the end but it was the stuff in between. I'm still not positive about how I feel about it, but I really just wanted to get it up for you guys. **

**Anyways, please let me know what you think. I'll try and update more frequently. R&R**


	11. Not So Quiet Night Alone

**Chapter 10: Not So Quiet Night Alone**

A couple week had passed since Troy and Gabriella had handing in their project. Gabriella had been friendlier towards him, well, sort of. She would acknowledge him if he spoke to her; however she still hadn't forgiven him. She still hated him, but she was grateful that he had done the entire project just so she wouldn't fail. Usually Gabriella was a very forgiving person, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to forgive Troy Bolton. He'd hurt her too much over the years and she couldn't bring herself to forget that. She didn't want to be friends with someone like that. Other than the Troy factor, everything was going great in Gabriella's life. She was finally in a place where she was happy, or rather happier than she used to be. There were still things in her life that she would love to be different, but they were things she couldn't change.

Gabriella opened her locker and pulled her books out. _Just one more period_, she thought. Gabriella sighed; she couldn't wait for the day to be over. She was looking forward to a nice relaxing evening at home. Her mom was going to be out all night, which meant she had the house all to herself. She was planning on spending her night curled up on her bed in a pair of sweat pants and a baggy shirt and watching a movie. It would be the prefect evening alone.

She closed her locker and was about to leave for her last class, when she felt someone come up behind her and wrap their arms around her waist. She was about to speak when the person lifted her into the air and started to swing her around. Gabriella giggled.

"Matt, put me down!" she squealed between laughter. Matt continued to spin her around. "Please," she begged, giggles continuing to escape her lips. "Put me down." Matt listened and slowly lowered her onto the ground, but he kept his arms around her waist. He rested his head on her shoulder, his lips brushing up against her ear.

"Hey beautiful," he whisper. Gabriella shivered when his hot breath made contact with her neck. She slowly turned around so she was facing him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and looked into his gorgeous green eyes, smiling.

"Hey sexy," she said flirtatiously.

"Sexy, eh?" he replied with a smile. Gabriella nodded.

"Uh-huh," she whispered, as she lifted herself onto her tippy toes and gently brushed her lips against his. She pulled away and smiled at him.

"I should get to class," she mentioned. Matt frowned.

"Aw, do you have to?" he whined, tightening his grip on her.

"Matt," she sighed. "I really have to go," she said as she tried to wiggle out of his grasp.

"What are you doing tonight?" he asked, just as she released herself from his grip.

"I'm spending a quiet evening at home watching movies," she explained quickly as the warning bell rang.

"Do you mind if I crash your quiet evening?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, sure," she said with panic in her voice. She couldn't get a detention she needed to get to class. "I've got to go see you later," she quickly kissed him on the cheek then ran off down the hall.

"Bye!" she heard Matt call after her.

* * *

Troy walked down the hall towards his locker. He kept his eye pealed for Chad. He was rounding the corner when he felt someone come up beside him. He looked over and saw Chad.

"Hey man, what's up?" Chad asked twirling his basketball on his finger.

"I've just got to get my books and then we ca head off to class."

"Cool. So what are you up to tonight?"

"I'm just going to take it easy. You know maybe shoot some hoops, watch the game," he replied. "What about you?"

"I've got a date with Tay," he explained as they drew closer to Troy locker.

"You really like her, huh?"

"Yeah, I do, but not as much as you like Gabs." Troy glared at Chad, his eyes moving in the directions of their lockers where Gabriella stood, with Matt. Chad followed his gaze.

"Do you mind not saying that so loud?" Troy hissed. Chad nodded as Troy walked over towards his locker and opened it. Matt, who had been swing Gabriella around put her down, but kept his arms around her none the less. Troy sighed. He'd give anything to hold her in his arms.

"Hey beautiful," Troy heard Matt say.

"Ugh," Troy grimaced, as he slammed his locker and walked over towards Chad. He looked back over at Gabriella and Matt and groaned. "Doesn't it just make you sick," he complained. Chad followed Troy's gazed and sighed.

"Well, what did you expect? You would finish one assignment and everything would go back to the way it used to be?" he asked rhetorically. "If that's what you thought, then think again."

"Shut up man," Troy replied. "What kind of friend are you anyways? Aren't you supposed to try and cheer me up or something?" Troy started making his way down the hall and Chad followed.

"It's called being honest."

"Why him?" Troy asked curiously. "The guy's such a jack ass, not to mention a player." Chad laughed.

"Yeah, coming from the king of players himself," he teased, receiving a punch in the arm from Troy. "Look, as far as I'm concerned he makes Gabs happy and that's all that matter." Troy sighed.

"I guess you're right. It's just; she deserves someone better than him, way better."

"Someone like you?" Chad guessed. Troy looked down at the ground and didn't reply. They had almost reached the class when he finally spoke again.

"Have you talked to Tay yet?"

"About?"

"You know ,about what I can do?" Chad shook his head.

"No, but I will tonight," he promised.

"Thanks man."

***

Later that night Troy was outside playing basketball when he heard a car door slam. He knew it wouldn't be his parents, so he walked round the house to the front to see who it was. When he reached the front yard he saw Tiffany walking up the path towards his front door.

"Tiff?" he called. Her head swung around until she laid her eyes on Troy. "What are you doing here?" She smirked and walked over to him, making sure to sway her hips. Troy moved his eyes up and down her body; she was wearing a very tight, low cut shirt and a very short skirt. The two items paired together left little to the imagination.

"Hey Troy, baby," she said flirtatiously. "I'm here to see you of course."

"I figured that much," he said in an obvious tone. "What I meant is _why_ you are here?"

"Well," she began, placing her hand on his shoulder and stroking his arms with her fingers. "I was sitting at home and I realized that we haven't spent a lot of time together lately," she replied simply. "Then I started to feel lonely, very lonely," she said as she leaned into him so that her lips gently brushed up against his ear. "Not to mention, very horny," she whispered seductively. Troy felt his pants tighten. _Betrayed by my hormones…again_, he thought.

"Look Tiffany, I don't really want to," he sentence was interrupted by a groan that escaped his own lips as she began to suck on his ear lobe. Troy's mind was telling him to pull away, but his body wouldn't let him. She brought her hand up to his hair and started to run her fingers threw it. She quickly came up for air then captured his lips in a kiss. To Troy's surprise he started kissing her back. They continued to kiss making it deeper until Troy needed some air; he pulled away just in time to see a car making its way down the road.

"So, are your parents' homes?" Tiffany asked running a finger down his chest. Troy shook his head.

"Nah, there at some event for my mom's work," he replied his eyes never leaving the car.

"Are we going to take this inside then?" she questioned hopefully/

"Look, I don't really think," he began, but stopped when he saw the car pull into Gabriella's driveway. That wasn't her mom's car, he thought. His eyes were locked on the car; he held his breath as the car door opened. When the person stepped out of the car, Troy gaze turned into a scowl. It was Matt, going up to Gabriella's house, when her mom wasn't home. Troy felt jealousy rip through his veins.

"Troy?" he heard Tiffany say breaking him out of his trance.

"What?" he snapped, then immediately regretting it.

"Sorry," she frowned. "You just never finished answering, you don't really think, what?"

"Nothing, never mind, let's go." He grabbed her by the hand and led her towards the house.

* * *

Gabriella and Matt were cuddled up in Gabriella's room watching a movie. Gabriella looked up at Matt and smiled. He, sensing her eyes on him looked down at her and returned the smiled.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered to her. She smiled and leaned towards him and gently brushed their lips. Gabriella felt Matt's hand cup her face and pulled her closed. She smiled into the kiss. She felt his tongue peak out and lick her bottom lip begging for entrance. She granted him access and their tongue began to dance together.

They continued to make-out, completely forgetting about the movie. Matt was lying on his back and Gabriella was on top of him. The make-out session became very heated, very quickly. Gabriella wasn't bothered, that is until Matt started pulling her top off. She tried to ignore it, but she couldn't. She quickly pulled away and got off of him.

"What's wrong?" Matt asked a hint of frustration in his voice.

"I'm not ready Matt," she sighed. Matt punched his fist into the bed.

"Dammit Gabriella!" he exclaimed. Gabriella looked at him shocked; she'd never seen him act this way. "We've been dating almost three months."

"I don't care, I'm not ready to have sex," she said standing up and walking over to the window and looking out.

"What, am I not good enough for you?" he cried, Gabriella wiped her head around shocked.

"Where is this all coming from?" she asked curiously, slightly scared. Matt stood up and walked over to Gabriella, she could see the anger in his eyes. "Look, maybe you should go. We can talk about this later," she said gently touching his arm. Matt shrugged her hand off.

"You don't like me anymore?" he hissed.

"Of course I still like you!" she exclaimed. "What just because I won't have sex with you, you think I don't like you anymore? And why the hell are you acting like this?"

"You're a fucking bitch, do you know that," he screamed. Gabriella looked at him hurt, her eyes filling with tears.

"Get out," she said her voice quivering.

"No," he replied firmly walking towards her so she backed into the wall.

"Matt, you're really scaring me right now. I want you to leave." Her whole body was shaking. Matt quickly brought his hand up and slapped her across the face. Gabriella's hand shot up to her face immediately, her jaw dropped. Who was this guy and what had he done with Matt. She looked at him with dark eyes.

"Get the fuck out of my house!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face. Matt's face softened, having realized what he'd done.

"Gabs, I'm so sorry," he said softly. Gabriella walked passed him and over to her bedroom door, opening it.

"Get out!" she screamed once more. Matt hung his head and walked towards the door.

"I really am sorry," he mumbled, leaning down to kiss her forehead, but she pulled away before he could. Matt walked out of her room and down the stairs; Gabriella stood at the top of the stairs and watched him walk out of the house. Once he was out she ran down and locked the door. She leaned her back on the door and slid down until she was sitting on the floor. She buried her head in her knees and began to cry.

**A/N: I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I hope you liked chapter 10. I know you guys aren't fans of Gabriella and Matt together, but it's all part of the story. I promise you though that there is some Troyella moments coming up very soon! Anyways, please review and let me know how you liked the chapter. I'll try and have the next one up soon!**


	12. Rough Day

**Chapter 11: Rough Day**

It had been almost a week since the incident with Matt and Gabriella still wasn't talking to him. They hadn't broken up, but she was so upset she just couldn't bring herself to talk to him. Gabriella woke up to the sound of her alarm clock; she groaned and pulled the covers over her head before hitting the snooze button. She stayed under the covers until the alarm went off again. She rolled over and turned her alarm off, her eyes falling on the picture of her and her father. She felt a tear roll down her cheek. She didn't want to go to school today; she didn't want to have to deal with anything. She just wanted to skip this day. Even though it had been a few years, it was still hard for her. Gabriella pushed her blankets off and lifted herself out of bed.

As she took a shower she decided that today was about remembering, not feeling sad. It was about her and no one else. She didn't want to put up with anyone's crap and she didn't want to have to impress anyone. When she was done in the shower, she applied a very small amount of make-up, pulled her hair back into a messy bun, and threw on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, before making her way downstairs. She walked downstairs and saw her mom sitting at the kitchen table pushing her cereal around the bowl. Gabriella walked over and wrapped her arms around her mom from behind.

"Morning mommy," said Gabriella, resting her head on her mom's shoulder. Her mom turned her head towards Gabriella.

"Morning Gabi," her mom said as she reached up and grabbed Gabriella's forearm. "How are you doing honey?" Gabriella sighed.

"It's hard but I'm okay." Her mother nodded.

"I know how you feel. Are you going to be okay today?" questioned her mother concerned. Gabriella nodded.

"I think so," she replied uncertainty laced in her voice.

"He loved us, you know," Maria said to her daughter.

"I know mom, I just miss him."

"I miss him too." The two talked for a little bit before Gabriella decided she should leave for school.

As Gabriella walked into the school she kept her head down, so she wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. Although no one, except for Taylor and Troy, knew what today really was, Gabriella didn't want anyone asking. When she got to her locker, Gabriella saw Troy already standing there. She sighed she really didn't want to deal with him today. She just wanted to be left alone. She slowly walked up praying he wouldn't talk to her.

Troy's eyes followed Gabriella as she walked up to her locker. He took in her appearance and the way she was walking, and he immediately knew something was wrong. She reached her locker without making any eye contact. Troy watched her open her locker and wondered if he should say anything. He was about to say hi when Matt came running up.

"Gabriella!" he called, her head spinning around in the direction of the voice.

"Damn it," she swore under her breath. She couldn't deal with this now. She turned to walk away, but was stopped by Matt grabbing her arm.

"Gabriella, babe, please talk to me. I really am sorry, it'll never happen again." Gabriella kept her eyes on the ground. "Please look at me," he begged. Gabriella slowly brought her eyes up to meet Matt's. "I've missed those eyes," he gushed. Gabriella couldn't help but smile.

"Matt," she began, but he cut her off.

"Look Gabs, I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened. I guess I was mad about the argument I got into with my parents and I took it out on you. I'm sorry, do you forgive me?" Gabriella searched his eyes to see if he was telling to truth.

"Okay, I forgive," she said trying to smile.

"Thanks babe, you're the best!" he exclaimed wrapping his arm around her. Gabriella face fell, she needed to leave, she needed to be alone. She quickly pulled away.

"I've got to go," said Gabriella as she took off down the hall. Both Troy and Matt's eyes followed her down the hall confused. Matt turned around and looked at Troy.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Uh, not much, I've got to go," Troy said as he made his way down the hall.

***

Troy walked into Chemistry and saw that Gabriella was already seated at their table. She was sitting at the table her head resting on her palms and her Ipod on. Troy walked over and took his seat. He debated whether he should talk to her or not, but eventually the curiosity became too much for him to handle. He gently taped her on the shoulder. She turned her head and pulled out one of her headphones.

"Are you okay?" he asked sincerely. Gabriella studies his eyes before responding.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied, and Troy immediately caught on.

"You're lying, I know you better than that." Gabriella couldn't control her emotions today and Troy had just taken one step too far.

"Oh really Troy, do you know me better than that? If you knew me that well you'd know why I was upset. I'm not surprised you forgot what today is though. I mean you weren't even around when it happened, but still," she trailed off mumbling to herself.

"How am I supposed to know what bothering you?" he asked confused.

"Are you fucking serious Troy? Would you please just step out of your perfect fucking world, stop being a jerk, and look the fuck around," she hissed.

"What is this about? I haven't been mean to you in weeks. If I didn't care, would I have bothered asking?" He spat, immediately regretting it. "Look, I'm sorry for-"

"Forget it Troy," she snapped, tears streaming down her face. "I'm tired of all your fucking apologies."

"Then why don't you forgive me? I've being trying everything to get you to forgive me, but obviously I'm not good enough. Why don't you stop being a fucking bitch and just hear me out?"

"I can't forgive you, don't you understand that. And I sure as hell am not being a bitch. I'm just pissed that you're being so fucking stupid." Gabriella turned her head to the front of the class, tears streaming down her face; she couldn't deal with this, not today. Troy turned to the front as well, anger burning through his veins. He wished he hadn't reacted that way, but he just couldn't help it. He'd been trying so hard and she just wouldn't forgive him. Every time he tried to do something nice to her, it always back fired.

"I can't believe you forgot," Troy heard Gabriella whisper. "You were like a son to him." Troy eyes grew wide. How could he have forgotten? It was the anniversary of her dad's death. Troy was about to say something, but Gabriella got up from her seat and ran to the bathroom.

"Mr. Bolton," he heard the teacher call. Troy's eyes met the teacher's. "What was that about?'

"She, uh, wasn't feeling well." The teacher simply nodded and continued on with the lesson. Troy sighed, how could he have been so stupid?

***

Gabriella was currently seating in the graveyard in front of her father's gravestone. Gabriella sighed. She had just started grade nine, she was fourteen years old. Her life had been completely changed around. Her friendship with Troy was over, she was being bullied, and her life just wasn't going the way she'd planned. It didn't matter to her though because she knew she could always count on her dad. Until that day, that is and she still remembered it like it was yesterday.

_It was a cool November day, and Gabriella was out with her dad. They had gone to see a movie and had decided to walk. They were ten minutes away from home when they past a short alley way. They heard yelling coming from the alley way, Joseph Montez told Gabriella to stay where she was. He entered the alley and Gabriella could here him trying to break up the fight, when all of a sudden she heard a gun shot, and then saw the two men run out of the alley. Gabriella ran into the alley and saw her dad lying on the ground. Gabriella bent down._

_"Dad?" she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Dad!" She shook her dad frantically. "Dad please, please wake up!" Gabriella's vision was blurred from her tears, which were now streaming down her face. She quickly grabbed her cell phone and dialled 911. _

_"Hello?" The voice on the other end said._

_"Hi, my dad's been shot."_

_***_

_Her father had been rushed to the hospital, and now Gabriella and her mom were sitting in the waiting room. The doctors were currently trying to see if there was anything they could do to help him. Gabriella couldn't stop her tears. She just wanted her dad to be okay, he had to be okay. She couldn't stand to lose someone else close to her. _

_"Maria and Gabriella Montez?" she heard the doctor say. Gabriella and her mom got up and went over to the doctor. _

_"I'm sorry," he began and Gabriella broke down. "There's nothing we could do."_

_"No, no," Gabriella cried. "He can't be, no!" _

_"Gabriella, honey," her mom said, tears falling from her own eyes. She pulled her daughter into a hug and the two cried together. _

_"Mom, he can't be gone, he can't be," she cried. Gabriella's mom didn't reply but simply rubbed her back soothingly. _

_***_

_Gabriella was sitting in the front row at her father's funeral. He was gone, and she couldn't stand it. She wished she could go back and time and make sure they had driven. How could someone have shot her father for no reason? Gabriella looked around the room and saw many familiar faces, just not the face of the person she needed most, Troy. Why wasn't he here? Why didn't he come? The ceremony began and Gabriella listened to the speakers, until it was her turn to speak. She stood up and walked to the front of the room._

_"My dad, Joseph Montez, was my best friend. He was there for me when I needed him most. I could talk to him about anything." As she spoke her eyes searched the room for Troy, but she still couldn't see him. Until her eyes fell on his parents, who were sitting alone did she realize he wasn't coming. Gabriella couldn't continue her speech, she was too emotional. However, before stepping off the stage she said,_

"_I love you daddy, I always have and I always will." She stepped down and took her seat once more, tears continuing to fall._

***

Chemistry was almost over and Gabriella still hadn't gotten back. Troy's leg was shaking nervously. He didn't know why he was so nervous though, he just was. He wanted her to come back; he wanted to apologize; he felt so bad for forgetting. The teacher kept droning on and on but Troy couldn't pay attention. Luckily his prayers were answered when the bell rang. He quickly piled Gabriella's book on top of his own and ran out of the class. He ran down the hall and went straight towards the bathroom. He knocked on the door.

"Gabriella?" he called. There was no answer. He was about to knock again when one of the cheerleaders walked out.

"Hey Troy," she smiled.

"Uh, hey. Is um, Gabriella in there?"

"No, and why are you looking for her?"

"Thanks, got to go." Troy ran down the hall towards the front door. He saw Chad stand in front of him.

"Hoops, where are you going? We have class."

"I've got to go somewhere, cover for me?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course, but where are you going?" Troy didn't answer, but instead took off again and out the door. "Yeah great talking to you," Chad muttered sarcastically.

He ran into the parking lot and saw that Gabriella's car wasn't there. Where would she be? He racked his brain; she couldn't have gone that far.

"The graveyard," Troy mumbled to himself and then ran towards his car. He jumped in putting the books on the passenger seat and took off towards the graveyard. When Troy got to the graveyard he saw Gabriella's car sitting in the parking lot.

"Thank god," he sighed. Troy parked his car beside Gabriella's and hopped out. He slowly walked into the graveyard and found Gabriella seated by he father's grave. Troy walked towards her slowly. She didn't notice that he had come up behind her, so he took a seat beside her in the grass. He knee brushed up against hers gently and she finally looked over.

"What are you doing her?" asked Gabriella.

"I came to apologize to you for forgetting, and to pay my respects."

"What about class?"

"This is me we're talking about," he laughed.

"True," she smiled.

"I also felt really bad, about getting angry. I should've been more consideration."

"I'm sorry I blew up at you earlier, I just couldn't believe you'd forgotten. I mean I know we aren't friends anymore, but I thought you of all people would've remembered," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. There was an awkward silence between them. Gabriella played with the grass as silent tears continued to fall. Troy looked over at Gabriella and smiled. She was absolutely beautiful. Without thinking Troy brought his arm up and place around Gabriella's shoulder. She immediately stiffened. Troy was about to move his arm when he felt Gabriella relax and lean into him. He smiled.

"Hey Joe," Gabriella heard Troy say. "You were such an amazing person; you had so much to offer the world. Why'd you have to go so soon? We were so lucky to have you in our lives; I wish you were still here with us." Gabriella tilted her head and looked up at Troy.

"Why didn't you come?" she whispered. Troy looked down at her and her confused. "To his funeral," he clarified seeing the look of confusion. Troy frowned.

"I didn't think you wanted me there. My parents kept trying to convince me to come, but I told them I was too upset to go. I was lying though, I mean, yes I was upset, but I wanted to come and pay my respects. It's just I kept thinking about everything that had gone between us, and I thought I was the last person you wanted to see there."

"You were wrong," she whispered. "You were the one person I wanted there the most. You were the one person that I needed most; I thought you could make everything better. I didn't care that you'd been treating me like crap, I just needed you, and you didn't come." As Gabriella spoke Troy notice that more tears were falling out of her eyes. "You know, of all the thing you've done to me over the years, that was the one that hurt me the most."

"I'm sorry, I really am," replied Troy. Gabriella didn't respond, but simply nodded. As much as she hated to admit it, she loved talking to Troy again. They sat in silence for a bit until Troy suddenly stood up and extended his hands towards Gabriella.

"What?" she asked curiously.

"I'm taking you somewhere." Gabriella grabbed his hands hesitantly and let him pull her up. They began walking away, when Troy stopped and placed his hand on the tombstone.

"Bye Joe," he said and Gabriella smiled. Then they continued making their way out of the graveyard. When they reached the cars Gabriella walked towards hers.

"What are you doing?" Troy asked.

"Getting in my car?"

"No, you're coming with me, leave your car here. We'll come back for it later." Gabriella nodded and walked round to the passenger side of Troy's car. As Troy got in he grabbed their book and threw them in the backseat. Gabriella hopped in and buckled her seat belt as her eyes fell on Troy.

"Where are you taking me?" she question. Troy smirked,

"You'll see."

"Troy," she whined. Troy just chuckled and took off down the road.

After nearly fifteen minutes of driving, Troy pulled into a parking lot. Gabriella's mouth fell open. In front of her was a small sandy beach and with crystal clear water.

"I haven't been here in years," she exclaimed her voice laced with happiness.

It was a little private beach that Troy and Gabriella's families had found one year. They used to go up every weekend in the summer and spend the entire day here. Troy and Gabriella used to swim and make sand castles while their parents sat around and talked.

"Come on," Troy called as he led the way down to the beach. Gabriella smiled and slipped her shoes off. She loved the feeling of the warm sand under her feet. She walked half way down the beach and then took a seat. She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the crashing waves. She loved the sound and the smell of the beach. Gabriella felt Troy sit down beside her. She opened her eyes and looked over at Troy.

"Thanks for bring me here," she said softy.

"You're welcome."

Troy and Gabriella sat in silence for a very long time, neither of them feeling the need to speak. Their ears were filled with the sound of the waves crashing, and their minds filled with their thoughts. Gabriella's thought started to go back towards her dad and she felt tears sting her eyes. She didn't want to cry anymore, so before her tears could fall she stood up and looked down at Troy.

"Let's go for a walk," she suggested. Troy nodded and stood up following Gabriella down to the water. They walked along the edge, feeling the water gently brush up against their feet.

"Do you remember when we used to come here every weekend?" asked Troy. Gabriella smiled,

"Of course I do, we used to swim, make sandcastles, and have picnics."

"Yeah, and don't forget splash wars," he laughed.

"How could I forget splash wars, didn't they start a little something like this?" She kicked her feet, sending water splashing up in Troy's direction, soaking his entire back. Troy's eyes grew wide; you did not just do that.

"Oh I think I did," replied Gabriella, as she took off in the opposite direction laughing. Troy sped after Gabriella and quickly caught up with making sure to splash the water up onto her as he got close to her.

"Troy, stop it!" she squealed, laughter escaping her lips. Troy smiled; he loved the sound of her laugh.

"Not a chance," he paused. "Unless you forfeit?" Gabriella shot around and faced him.

"Fat chance," she replied as she bent down and started splashing him with more water. Gabriella felt Troy splashing her back, and then the water suddenly stopped.

"You're going to pay for this," he chuckled, while Gabriella continued to splash him. Troy slowly walked towards her the water hitting him in the face. He bent down and hoisted Gabriella onto his shoulder and into the air. He walked deeper into the water, Gabriella struggling to free herself.

"Troy put me down!" she squealed, while hitting Troy back. "Please, just put me down."

"Your wish is my command," he replied laughing and dropped her into the water. Gabriella came up from the water screaming.

"I meant on the ground! Not in the water!"

"Oops, my mistake," he laughed.

"Oh you think this is funny do you?" Troy nodded. "Help me up." Troy extended his arm, and next thing he knew Gabriella pulled him down into the water along side her. "Still funny?" she asked laughing.

"No, but you're so going to pay for this," he laughed, but Gabriella had already stood up.

"You've got to catch me first," she giggled, as she took off for the beach. Troy got up and ran after her. Gabriella had just stepped onto the dry sand when Troy tackled her to the ground. Gabriella was now on her back in the sand, Troy body hovering above her. Gabriella looked up into Troy piercing blue eyes, how she loved those eyes.

As Troy stared into Gabriella big brown orbs, he could feel the sparks between them. Before he could stop himself, he closed his eyes and started leaning in towards her.

Gabriella's eyes grew wide as Troy started leaning in. He was leaning into kiss her. Was this really what she wanted? Her heart was telling her one thing and her mind another. She closed her eyes as their lips met. Gabriella soon found herself kissing back as she wrapped her warms around his neck. It wasn't until she felt Troy's tongue brush against her bottom lip that she came to her senses. She quickly pushed him off of her and stood up. Troy looked up at her confused; he thought she's been enjoying it as much as he had. Did she not feel the sparks as their lips connected?

"Gabriella," Troy began but Gabriella cut him off.

"What are you doing? Was this all a plan," she yelled, tears streaming down her face. "Bring the vulnerable Gabriella down to the beach, and take advantage of her? You knew how upset I was, and you thought I'd be an easy target?" Troy shook his head and took a step towards her, but she took a step backwards.

"No, Gabriella, I," he stuttered trying to find the right words.

"I can't believe you Troy; you know I have a boyfriend!" She yelled. Troy tried to respond but Gabriella started waking away.

"Who Matt? Oh yeah great choice, excellent choice in fact," he replied sarcastically.

"Yeah well, at least he likes me for who I am. At least he had no problem with me being the 'geek'. At least he doesn't bully me, and he unlike someone else doesn't ditch me for other girls!" Gabriella started walking up towards the parking lot.

"Where are you going?" he called.

"Home."

"Gabriella you can't walk home."

"Really, just watch me," she replied with anger. Troy ran up and stood in front of her.

"No, I'm not letting you. I'll drive you."

"Why so you can try and take advantage of me?"

"What? No, is that really the type of guy you think I am?" He asked hurt.

"Yeah, it is actually. You're a player Troy; you only have one thing on your mind, sex." Gabriella made sure to emphasize the word sex. "I mean honestly Troy, how many girls have you slept with? When the last time you were in a really relationship?" Troy felt tears sting his eyes, how could she think those things about him. _Does she honestly think I try and take advantage of girls_? He thought.

"For the record, I didn't plan to kiss you, I just happened, okay? And maybe I haven't been in a relationship in a while because the one girl I really care about won't give me the time of day. Now get in the car." Gabriella sighed and walked over to Troy car, waiting by the back door. "You can sit in the front, I won't touch you."

"Thanks, but I'm fine in the back." Troy sighed.

The car was filled with an awkward silence, neither of them wanting to say anything. Troy couldn't help but mentally hit himself for kissing her. Everything had been great between them, almost back to normal and then he messed it up, again. Where as Gabriella couldn't stop thinking about the kiss, as much as she was upset about it, she also couldn't get it off her mind. When she felt Troy lips brush up against her she felt a jolt of electricity shoot through her body, it was unlike anything she'd ever felt with Matt, and that's what scared her. She didn't want to feel this way about Troy, not again.

**A/N: Well there you go guys. Look I'm sorry I haven't been updated very often, things have been super crazy with school and everything else right now. So I apologize.  
**

**I hope the chapter was worth the wait, however. The story is going to start changing a lot in the next couple of chapters, so there's a lot more to look forward to. Please let me know what you guys think. I want to thank those of you who have been reviewing I appreciate the feedback! Until next time. R&R**


	13. Stay With Me

**Chapter 12: Stay With Me**

A week had passed since the kiss and thing were still extremely awkward between Troy and Gabriella. Gabriella tried to avoid Troy as much as possible, while Troy kept trying to convince her that he hadn't planned anything. However, no matter how hard he tried she just wouldn't give him the time of day. After a couple of days Troy gave up and realized that it wasn't worth it, she wouldn't listen. He realized it wasn't worth trying at all, nothing was ever going to be the same as it used to be, not after everything that had happened over the years.

It was a cool Saturday morning and Troy was outside practicing basketball. He needed a day to himself, a day where he could just practice and not have to deal with anyone else, this was going to be his day, or so he thought. Troy practiced some free throws, some lay-up and tried coming up with some new manoeuvres for the team. After a while he sat down in the grass and took a water break. He was about to get back to the game when his cell phone rang.

"Talk to me," he answered.

"Hey man, what are you up to?" he heard Chad's voice reply.

"Just shooting some hoops. What's up?"

"I was calling to tell you that Sharpay and Ryan are having a huge party at their beach house, and we're going." Troy frowned; he wasn't in the mood to go to a party. If Sharpay was throwing that meant Gabriella would be there, with Matt.

"Go without me, I'm not really in the mood to party."

"Is this about Gabriella? Get over her man; it's never going to happen."

"Wow, thanks for the encouraging words," replied Troy sarcastically.

"Look, I know you like her man, but she's with Matt. You need to move on and you're coming to this party even if I have to drag you there myself."

"Uh, I just, I don't want to go."

"You're coming. I'll make you a deal, you come to the party and stay for at least two hours, then if you really still don't want to be there, you can leave."

"Fine, but only if I have to stay for an hour and a half."

"Nope, two hours."

"Fine," Troy sighed.

"Awesome man, so I'll meet you there for eight."

"I guess so, see you then," said Troy before hanging up. Troy laid down in the grass, his head resting in his hands. He looked up at the cloud, and slowly zoned out into his own thoughts.

****

Gabriella found herself at Sharpay's beach house early Saturday morning helping her set up. Although she had never really been a big party girl, she was actually looking forward to the party that night. Gabriella was excited to just let loose and spending some time with Matt. Everything was good between them again since Gabriella forgave him. He hadn't laid a hand on her, and everything had gone back to normal. Gabriella now trusted him and believed it was only a one time thing.

"Where do you want these?" Gabriella asked Sharpay, holding up a case of drinks.

"Um, over by the bar," she replied. "After you put those down, can you help me move the furniture around?" Gabriella nodded before walking over to the bar and placing the case of drinks down.

"It so awesome that your parents are letting you have this party, it's going to be so much fun."

"I know, and the best part is it's unsupervised. I mean, it's about time. We're pretty much adults, we're moving out next year and they won't be able to supervise us anymore."

"Exactly," agreed Gabriella. "So, what are we doing with the furniture?"

"I want to push it to the sides so that we can have a dance floor inside too," Sharpay explained as she started pushing a car. Gabriella followed suit and within an hour they had everything set up. Gabriella looked at her watch and saw that it was already three o'clock.

"Well, I've got to go home and grab a shower and get ready. Matt's going to pick me up around seven thirty, so we'll be here before eight." Sharpay nodded and pulled her into a hug.

"Thanks so much for all your help."

"No problem, I'll see you later." Gabriella started walking towards the door as Sharpay called out to her.

"Make sure you wear something cute." Gabriella laughed.

"I will Shar."

***

It was close to eight thirty as Troy and Chad walked into the party, to see that a lot of people were already there. As soon as they walked in the girls started to swarm Troy, he simply smiled at them and followed Chad towards the bar. Chad grabbed a beer off the counter for both him and Troy.

"Thanks," said Troy as Chad handed him the beer.

"Come on dude; let's go find you someone to dance with." They started making their way around the house seeing who was all there. They had almost reached the doors leading to the beach when Troy's eye fell on Gabriella. He frowned as he saw her cuddled into Matt, his arms wrapped around her waist. As Troy ripped his gaze away from Gabriella he saw that Matt's eyes had fallen on him. He lifted one of his arms and waved to Troy. As Troy waved back, he saw Gabriella's head spin around to see who Matt was waving to. Her eyes fell on Troy for a split second and see immediately turned away.

***

Gabriella ripped her eyes away from Troy.

"Um, Matt can you go get me a drink? I'm going to go make sure Shar doesn't need any help." Matt nodded.

"Yeah, of course," he smiled. Matt watched Gabriella walk away before he made his way over to the bar. He grabbed a coke and the bottle of rum, and made two rum and cokes. Before walking away, he pulled a small bottle out of his pocket and poured the liquid into one of the drinks. He put the bottle back in his pocket before grabbing the drinks and walking back to Gabriella.

"Here you go," said Matt as he handed Gabriella her drink.

"Thanks so much," she smiled.

"Shar didn't need and help?" he asked. Gabriella shook her head.

"See said everything was fine." Gabriella lifted the cup to her lips and took a sip of her drink. Matt smiled.

"Is it good?"

"It's perfect, just what I needed."

"I'm glad," he smirked.

***

As the night went on, Troy found himself dancing with multiple girls, and kissing the occasional one. Although no matter how many girls he danced with or kissed, he always seemed to find himself looking for Gabriella. Every time he'd spot her she seemed to be getting drunker; however he noticed she wasn't acting the same way as before. She wasn't crying or upset, she wasn't even excited or upbeat, but rather she was slowly loosing energy.

***

"Matty," Gabriella said in a sing-song voice. "I'm getting really tired," she yawned.

"You want to head up to the room?" he asked with a smile. Gabriella nodded.

"Will you carry me?"

"Of course," he replied as he slipped an arm under her legs and the other behind her back. As Matt walked towards the stairs, Gabriella in his arm he couldn't help but smile to himself. He walked all the way to the far end of the hallway and took a left to the room furthest from the party. As he entered the room he placed Gabriella on the bed and he laid down beside her. She leaned over to him and placed a kiss on his lips; Matt kissed back and slowly deepened the kiss.

***

Troy had been at the party for two and a half hours and he was ready to go home. He walked over to Chad, who was dancing with Taylor, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"I'm going to head out," he yelled over the music.

"Are you sure?" Chad replied. Troy nodded.

"Yeah, I'm just going to hit the washroom and then leave. I'll call you tomorrow." Chad nodded.

"Okay see yeah," he replied before going back to dancing with Taylor.

Troy made his way upstairs and all the way down the hallway and two the left. He was about to enter the bathroom when he stopped.

***

Matt rolled Gabriella onto her back and pinned her to the bed beneath him. She was slowly loosing conciseness, and he was going to make her move. He reached down and buttoned her jeans. Gabriella started to squirm beneath.

"What are you doing?" she asked scared.

"What do you think? I'm doing what we should've down months ago," he replied roughly. He pulled her pants down and Gabriella tried to push him away, but she had no strength.

"Get off of me!" she cried.

"Don't worry honey, you won't feel or remember a thing," he laughed. Gabriella tried her hardest to get out from underneath Matt, so he brought hi hand up and slapped her.

"Stop it! Please just stop it!" she yelled.

***

Troy heard voiced coming from the room next to the bathroom. He walked towards the door and leaned into it, pressing his ear against the door.

"Stop it! Please just stop it!" he heard Gabriella yell. Troy immediately got an adrenaline rush. Someone was hurting her. He tried to open the door but it was locked. He ran down the hall and then back at the door knocking it over. He walked into the room and found Matt on top of Gabriella was she laid beneath him weakly, trying to get away. He ran over to the bed and grabbed Matt by the neck of his shirt he pulled Matt off of Gabriella and threw him to the ground.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" he yelled, as he held Matt to the ground.

"Trying to have sex with my girlfriend," he yelled frustrated.

"No, you're trying to rape your fucking girlfriend. What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything."

"Really, then what'd this?" Troy asked as he pulled the bottle out of Matt's pocket. "Hmm, date rape drug. I bet the cops would love to hear you had this."

"Get the fuck off of me man!"

"I'll get off of you, just after I do this," he said as he punched him in the face. Troy lifted Matt up and pushed him out of the room. "If I so much as see you look at her ever again, I'll go to the cops." Troy saw the anger in Matt's eyes as he turned around and walked down the stairs. Troy ran back to the room and saw Gabriella asleep on the bed. He grabbed her pants and put them back on her petite body. He slowly lifted her into his arms and started carrying her downstairs. As he looked around he noticed that no one was paying attention to him, so he just walked towards the door and left, Gabriella in still in his arms.

As he reached the car he gently placed Gabriella in the passengers' seat and did up her seat belt. He walked around the car and got into the drive seat and starting the car. He pulled out of Sharpay's driveway and started making his way home. As he drove down the road he couldn't help but notice how peaceful Gabriella looked. He felt bad, he should've known something was wrong with her, she wasn't drunk, Matt had drugged her. Would she even remember any of this happening? Would she let Matt come crawling back into her life? Troy wouldn't let her. He would tell her everything that happened.

After ten minutes of driving Troy pulled into his driveway. He got out of the car and gently lifted Gabriella out as well. He walked across the lawn that lay between their houses. When he reach the front door he leaned Gabriella on his knee as he bent down and got the spare key that was hidden under the flower pot. He unlocked the door and quietly walked upstairs not wanting to wake Gabriella's mom. He entered Gabriella's room and saw that it had change a great deal. It now had a more sophisticated décor and a bigger bed. He pushed back the covers before gently placing her in the bed. He removed her shoes, and took the clip out of her hair. He turned to walk away when he heard Gabriella stir. Her hand gently touched his arm sending sparks shooting through his body.

"Stay with me Troy," he heard her whisper.

"It's not a good idea. You won't be happy in the morning," he replied.

"Please," she begged, tightening the grip she had on his arm.

"Okay," Troy gave in and slid onto the bed beside her. Gabriella moved closer to him and cuddled into him, her arm draped over his waist and her head resting on his chest. Gabriella's breathing became even as she fell asleep once more. Troy laid there, listening to her soft breathing, his arm wrapped Gabriella's shoulder and he slowly drifted off to sleep.

**A/N: And that's chapter twelve. I hope you liked it. I'll try to have the next chapter up soon but I can't make any promises. Please let me know what you thoughts. Thanks so much for reading and thank you to those who review :)**


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